The Sprinboks waited until the final minutes to wrestle a 31-27 win away from the All Blacks and to remain the number one ranked team in the world.
The All Blacks started like a house on fire and set up camp in the Springboks twenty-two for the first seven minutes of the match until Aphele Fassi was shown a yellow card for an illegal tackle. Codie Taylor scored the All Blacks' first try from the following line-out maul to open the scoring for the match.
The Springboks slowly clawed their way back into the match and scored their first try when Bongi Mbonambi scored from the back of a five-meter lineout maul to reduce the All Blacks lead to 07-05 with twenty-three minutes to play in the first half.
Despite the Springboks having opportunities it was still the All Blacks who “dominated” the physical battle.
With ten minutes to play in the first half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu converted a fifte-nine meter penalty to give the Springboks the lead for the first time of the match.
The All Blacks struck back almost immediately when the half-hearted defence of Damian De Allende allowed winger Caleb Clarke to score the All Blacks second try and lead 12-08.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu added his second converted penalty of the day which reduced the All Blacks lead to 12-11 at the halftime break.
Careless passing by the Springbok backline gave Jordie Barrett an easy intercept and try under the pole to extend the All Blacks lead to 18-11 after two minutes of play in the second half, whereafter Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (2) and Damian Mckenzie converted penalties to effectively reduce the All Blacks lead to 20-17.
However, the All Blacks were not done yet and Caleb Clarke scored a simple try beating the Springboks defence out wide two minutes later, to extend the All Blacks’ lead to 27-17.
With twenty minutes to play a yellow card was shown to All Blacks hooker Asafo Aumua which eventually led to Kwagga Smith bulldozing his way over the All Blacks tryline to reduce the All Blacks lead to just three points.
The Springboks continued the onslaught against the All Blacks until Grant Williams scored the winning try with minutes still to play. The Springboks maybe a bit lucky to win 31-27.
Scorers:
Springboks: Tries: Bongi Monambi, Kwagga Smith, Grant Williams. Conversion: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (2). Penalties: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (4).
All Blacks: Tries: Codie Taylor, Caleb Clarke (2), Jordie Barrett. Conversions: Damian Mckenzie (2). Penalty: Damian Mckenzie.
Teams:
Springboks: 1 Ox Nche, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 3 Frans Malherbe, 4 Pieter Steph Du Toit, 5 Ruan Nortje, 6 Siya Kolisi , 7 Ben Jason Dixon, 8 Jasper Wiese, 9 Cobus Reinach, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 11 Kurt - Lee Arendse, 12 Damian De Allende, 13 Jesse Kriel, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 15 Aphelele Fassi. Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Eben Etzebeth, 20 Elrigh Louw, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Handré Pollard.
All Blacks: 1 Tamaiti Williams, 2 Codie Taylor, 3 Tyrel Lomax, 4 Scott Barrett, 5 Tupou Va'ai, 6 Ethan Blackadder, 7 Sam Cane, 8 Ardie Savea, 9 TJ Perenara, 10 Damian Mckenzie, 11 Caleb Clarke, 12 Jordie Barrett, 13 Rieko Ioane, 14 Will Jordan, 15 Beauden Barrett. Replacements: 16 Asafo Aumua, 17 Ofa Tu'ungafasi, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Sam Darry, 20 Samipeni Finau, 21 Cortez Ratima, 22 Anton Lienert-brown, 23 Mark Telea.