CAPE TOWN, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Coach Dave Rennie praised the character of his side as New Zealand pulled away in the closing stages to defeat South Africa’s Stormers 38-21 in Cape Town on Friday, but has a concern over a shoulder injury to centre Billy Proctor.
The All Blacks made a winning start to their Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour that will see them face four South African franchise teams and play four tests against the Springboks, the first time they have toured their great rivals in 30 years.
But they were given a scare by a depleted Stormers side, who held the tourists at 14-14 in the 65th minute, but ran out of gas in the closing stages.
"It was a good introduction for us to South African rugby," Rennie told reporters. "We started very well and it looked like which side had the ball got rewarded by the referee.
"When we had the ball we were really dangerous. We knew they would bring line speed (in defence). We just weren’t quite clinical enough to expose them.
"They came at us with their set-piece and we need to be better in those areas. We expected a lot of aerial attacks and we probably did not handle that as well as we could have."
Rennie confirmed an injury problem for Proctor, who looked uncomfortable as he left the field.
"It looks like a shoulder injury. There are some other guys with bumps and bruises too. We will have to see."
Rennie said the character of his side shone in the closing stages and it was a major factor in their victory.
"Just a heap of character, we are very well conditioned. I felt if we could hold onto the ball, we would hurt them," Rennie said.
"Both sides were pretty competitive post-tackle. We will have sides who try to slow our ball down. We carried and cleaned well (at the ruck). What we knew was we had to be accurate. If we could do that we would find space.
"We have got some tough footie into them (the players) tonight and they will be better for that. Tours like this will test our depth and heading into a World Cup next year and we will know better what we have."
(Reporting by Nick Said, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
