An awesome defensive display by New Zealand helped them to a 12-3 win over South Africa in a tight opener to the Tri-Nations at Fedsure Park, Cape Town on Saturday.

Tony Brown produced an impeccable kicking display in windy and rainy conditions to score all his side's points within the first half.

In a scoreless second-half the All Blacks dealt with everything the Springboks could throw at them as the host side's effort was undermined by handling mistakes and missed kicking chances.

This was the first international played at Cape Town in almost two years and South Africa came into the game hoping to reproduce the effectiveness of that performance when they defeated Australia 10-9.

The heroics of that match were missing in this match however.

South Africa coach Harry Viljoen made 10 changes to the Springbok side that beat Italy 60-14 last month but they were undone by a Kiwi side who kept their shape superbly throughout the game. The opening half was a tale of penalty-kicks with South African full back Percy Montgomery missing two of his three attempts, while the boot of Brown was faultless.

Brown, who has taken over the kicking responsibilities so impressively from Andrew Mehrtens, converted four from four to give his side their 12-3 lead at the break.

Traditionally there is little to pick between these two giants of world rugby, with New Zealand having triumphed 27 times to South Africa's 26 in clashes between the two. And for the first 25 minutes there was once again little to separate the sides.

But, with the score tied at 3-3 and the match being fought in midfield, Brown showed great composure to steer the ball between the posts in the 27th and 31st minutes.

South Africa managed to gain territorial and possessional dominance but scrumhalf Joost van der Westhuizen's bright ideas were not enough to break through the All Black rearguard.

Following the break, Wayne Smith's side had their defensive abilities pushed to the limit. Ten minutes into the second-half the home side penned their opponents deep back into their own half, and earned a scrum just 10 yards out from the New Zealand line.

From Westhuizen's put-in Mark Andrews was able to pick up and have an open run at New Zealand's last line of defence.

However, the massive lock's run was brought to an abrupt end by a bone-shaking tackle from Jonah Lomu.

Jeff Wilson, playing full back in the absence of Christian Cullen, was well protected by the disciplined New Zealand forwards, led by captain Anton Oliver.

South Africa continued to force the agenda, but the men in black gave nothing away, conceding the only penalties of the second period in injury-time.

But, as was the way in the first half, the chances were squandered with both Montgomery and Butch James falling short of the posts with their efforts.

The Springboks now have a week to recover before the challenge of taking on world champions Australia in Pretoria.

They will need to both kick better and show more creativity in their running if they are to beat the Wallabies and avoid a repeat of last season when they finished bottom in the Tri-Nations, winning just one game.