Tuipulotu warns All Blacks must fix discipline after Stormers scare

Patrick Tuipulotu says the All Blacks have plenty to fix despite opening their South African tour with a 38-21 win over the Stormers.

Tuipulotu is standing in as captain for regular skipper Ardie Savea, who will join the All Blacks later on the campaign.

The All Blacks captain led the side through a tense battle at DHL Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday (NZ time) where New Zealand were pushed to 14-14 in the second half before three late tries secured the win.

Tuipulotu says the biggest warning was not the final score but how easily the Stormers tested the All Blacks' discipline and defence.

"Yeah, I think we come into this game knowing full well that the Stormers would be very physical and throw everything at us and be set piece dominant, and that's what they did," he told a press conference after the match.

"But I think credit to the Stormers, they managed to obviously test our discipline, get a lot of penalties, end up in our half, and make us defend quite a bit."

The All Blacks conceded 16 penalties and had three players yellow-carded while a penalty try also went against them.

Tuipulotu says the Stormers showed exactly what makes South African rugby so difficult to face.

"It's good to come back and play against them. It's been a while since we played them in Super Rugby," he said.

All Black winger Rieko Ioane made a strong contribution during the 38-21 win over the Stormers in Cape Town. Photo/Photosport/Ron Gaunt

"But tonight they showed the qualities of a good South African team, certainly around their set-piece and around their defence, putting pressure on us and forcing a lot of errors, and especially around the discipline area."

The Stormers took advantage of the All Blacks' indiscipline and led for periods of the match. But the visitors' ability to keep playing under pressure eventually told.

Rieko Ioane, Leroy Carter, Josh Moorby, and Asafo Aumua all crossed in the second half with Aumua's late try sealing the win.

Peter Lakai was also among the All Blacks' standouts while debutant Josh Jacomb made an impact from the bench.

But the All Blacks will know there is little room for the same mistakes as their South African tour moves on.

The Stormers forced the visitors into long periods of defence and finished with 57 per cent of territory while the All Blacks were also reduced to 13 players during the first half.

All Blacks great Ma’a Nonu has been named on the Sharks bench to face his former team in Durban, in a remarkable return to Test-level rugby at age 44. Photo/allblacks.com

Tuipulotu says that is the lesson to take from the opening night: the scoreline may say 38-21 but the All Blacks were made to work for it.

Next up for Tuipulotu and the All Blacks are the Sharks in Durban on Wednesday morning (NZT) where they will face another stern test of their discipline and set-piece game.

There will be an extra twist, with All Blacks great Ma’a Nonu named on the Sharks bench for the clash.

The 44-year-old two-time Rugby World Cup winner has been named at No. 23, just weeks after joining the Sharks as part of a high-performance mentorship role.

Nonu played 103 Tests for the All Blacks between 2003 and 2015 and was part of their 2011 and 2015 World Cup-winning teams.

His return means he could come off the bench against the team he represented for more than a decade.

For more on the All Blacks' Rugby's Greatest Rivalry tour, click here.

Fijiana suffer heavy defeat

Later on Saturday in Suva, the Fijiana XV were handed a very different result, going down 55-21 to South Africa in their Ubuntu-Bula Trophy clash at a packed HFC Bank Stadium.

The Springboks Women led 27-7 at half-time before adding five more tries after the break.

Fijiana captain Kolora Lomani says the performance fell well short of what the team wanted.

"Definitely not the result we wanted to get today but all we can do is learn and do better," she told media after the match.

"There are a lot of areas we need to work on so we’ll go back, watch our clips and come back stronger."

South Africa's Springbok Women celebrate their 55-21 win over the Fijiana XV in the opening Ubuntu-Bula Trophy clash at HFC Bank Stadium in Suva. Photo/springboks.rugby

Lomani also thanked the home supporters who turned out in big numbers, apologising that the team could not give them the result they wanted.

Both Pacific sides now have clear lessons to take from facing South African opposition but for the All Blacks, Tuipulotu's warning is already pointing to what needs to change before their next test.

The Fijiana will get a chance to respond next Saturday when they face the Springbok Women again in the second Test of the Ubuntu-Bula Trophy series at Churchill Park in Lautoka.

For more details, click here.