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All Blacks skipper Rodney So'oialo said that he was pleased with the way his side managed to unlock the Springbok defence in their 19-8 Tri-Nations victory in Wellington.

New Zealand came out on top in a physical and scrappy affair, but only after they managed to get the better of the Springboks in the second half.

Jerome Kaino scored the crucial try in the second half to cancel out Bryan Habana's first-half effort, and along with Dan Carter's sterling goal-kicking, it set the platform for the home victory.

"That second half was pretty crucial for us, and we wanted to get a real great start here in the tournament," said the All Black skipper.

"Obviously we did just that.

The victory will be made all the more sweeter for the All Blacks considering all the talk that has gone before about who the 'real' World Champions are.

South Africa never met New Zealand in their triumphant march to the World Cup.

"They [Springboks] are the best you know. They are the World Cup champs, and obviously they have a great defence, and we had to crack it in that second half," said So'oialo.

"It was great captaining the boys in front of my home crowd. I'm delighted that the boys came through."

Springbok vice-captain Victor Matfield spoke after the match, and felt that the way that the All Blacks protected their possession made the difference on the day.

"It was hard. They [All Blacks] showed us how to keep the ball in the wet weather, and they did awesomely in the second half. We couldn't keep them out," said Matfield, who took over as skipper when John Smit left the field with what looked like a knee injury.

"We were happy with our first half, and we got the try just before half-time so we were nice and confident.

"But we came out [in the second half] and we didn't hold onto the ball enough.

"It doesn't get much tougher than this. I just need to get rid of the rust a little bit, but hopefully we'll be better next week.

"It's going to be a tough week for us, but we're very proud and we'll be back next week," said the lock forward.

South Africa will now be even more desperate for a win next week against the same opponents in Dunedin. If they were to suffer a second consecutive loss, it would drastically reduce their chances of winning this year's Tri-Nations.

The Springboks also have a third away game to navigate - in Perth against Australia - before returning to South Africa for their home leg of the competition.