All Blacks halfback Aaron Smith has described the first half of the Test match against South Africa felt like playing two matches.
During the first half of the All Blacks 25-24 win over the Springboks on Sunday morning (NZ time) 50 minutes of rugby was played as both teams battled it out for 10-minutes after the halftime hooter.
Captain Kieran Read said after the match the teams "egos maybe got in the way of what perhaps was a smart decision" and Smith agreed due to the physical nature of the Test.
"It felt like we played two games," said Smith.
"When we went in at halftime, it felt like I had just played a game and then we had to stand up and prep for the second half.
"It was an awesome Test match, really special to be a part of and we always knew we'd get a big response from them after that Albany game and coming to their home patch it was defiantly a big response from them.
"It was really tough, especially at the end that half, nobody wanted to back down. Nobody wanted to kick the ball out. It was an interesting 10 minutes but it was fun."
Smith was full of praise towards the Springboks who bounced back from a 57-0 thrashing to the hands of the All Blacks last month in Albany.
The 28-year-old explained how the South Africa were a different beat in Cape Town and how they were 'very lucky' to walk away with the win.
"What happened in Albany was a mixture of a number of things. I think we were on fire with some of our skills and we were lucky that some of our stuff came off.
"Their set piece wasn't very good in Auckland which as the complete opposite to yesterday so we knew if they got their set piece right and nailed their scrum/lineout, it's a whole new game and that is exactly what happened.
"I think we only had three attacking lineouts which is pretty rare for us so when you get minimised to not much attack, it's going to be an arm wrestle and that is exactly what happened.
"Pretty much a general game against South Africa in my eyes, it is always an arm wrestle. It comes down to little moments and we are very lucky that we won one more than them."
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