Sport 04-10-1999 New Zealand 45 Tonga 9 who: New Zealand All Blacks what: where: Ashton Gate when: Yesterday snippet: "ALL BLACKS off colour" is the big sporting headline from The Star. "Forget their reputations," writes Mark McGuinness, "forget their awesome record and - most of all - forget what Jonah Lomu did to England in 1995. Ladies and gentlemen, the All Blacks are beatable". For 60 minutes yesterday the underdogs from Tonga knocked the New Zealanders off their stride. "When the rival war dances of the southern seas were performed," writes The Independent, "simultaneously and combustibly, at Ashton Gate yesterday afternoon, the effect was so incendiary that the first half quickly left the realms of rugby and revisited the age of the medieval tournament." Tonga owed their success to a strong defence. But, says The Guardian`s Michael Prestage, "the strenuous effort finally took its toll and three tries in the last quarter gave the New Zealanders the sort of scoreline expected of them." [... more]

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