Carter stars for All Blacks

2:40pm Saturday 5th July 2008

New Zealand extended their unbeaten home run to 30 matches with a gutsy 19-8 victory over South Africa in the Tri-Nations.

Three Dan Carter penalties put the All Blacks 9-3 up in Wellington, but Bryan Habana crossed following Jean de Villiers' fine break to narrow the Springboks' half-time deficit to a single point.

However, Jerome Kaino's converted try hauled the hosts clear before Carter took his personal haul to 14 points.

Carter kicked the first penalty in the fourth minute but that was quickly cancelled out by opposite number Butch James.

Carter extended the All Blacks' lead to 9-3 with two more penalties - but four minutes before half-time and against the run of play, lightning quick wing Bryan Habana dived over for the opening try of the match.

The All Blacks turned over possession at the breakdown in the Boks' half and a well-weighted pass from Adrian Jacobs found fellow midfielder de Villiers, who burst through the gap before sending Habana in at the corner. James failed to add the conversion.

The All Blacks were quickly out of the blocks in the second half, with Kaino scoring his first international try and Carter adding the conversion for a 16-8 lead.

Francois Steyn fired a speculative long-range drop-goal in a bid to close the gap, but watched as it dropped just short.

And in the end it was Carter who had the final say, slotting his final penalty of the night with nine minutes to play.

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