Caleb Clarke of New Zealand and Cheslin Kolbe of the Springboks during the Rugby Championship match between South Africa and New Zealand on 31 August 2024 at Ellis Park. (Photo: Dirk Kotze/Gallo Images) 
The Springboks produced 11 minutes of world champion class after 69 minutes of erratic rugby to edge the All Blacks 31-27 in an Ellis Park thriller for the ages.
The All Blacks looked for all money to have won the game when they scored their fourth try with just under 30 minutes to play, and stretched their lead to 10 points.
As the clock wound down that lead looked insurmountable as the Boks kept making error after error in their desperation to dig themselves out of a deep hole.
Less mentally tough players and teams would have folded, but the Boks kept coming, with sheer guts and belief.
They showed why they are world champions though, by putting each mistake behind them and coming back for more. With each sortie, the All Blacks started creaking a little more.
The bomb squad did the business in the end, with Kwagga Smith scoring after a lineout maul was stopped metres from the line.
And then, with five minutes to play, scrumhalf Grant Williams surged over after another lineout maul was stopped. The All Blacks were down to 14 men at the time, after losing Ofa Tu’ungafasi to a yellow card for repeatedly sacking the Bok maul.
The All Blacks might ask themselves how they lost that match when they do their analysis because they dominated the scoreboard, possession and territory, and several other facets. They did though, concede 14 penalties to the five of the Boks, mostly under breakdown pressure. That was telling.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/TL_2253242-1.jpg "All Black flank Ethan Blackadder is stopped by Bok fullback Aphelele Fassi. (Photo: Dirk Kotze/Gallo Images)")
Top of the log
The victory was the Boks’ third in succession over the All Blacks, and moved them to 14 points on the Rugby Championship standings after three rounds. They have one hand on that trophy now.
But this was not about tournaments and winning streaks. It was about two old rivals going at each other for 80 pulsating minutes and asking tough questions of the other.
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Perhaps there were too many errors for this match to go down in the canon of the all-time great clashes between them, but for sheer drama it was right up there.
From the opening show, where PJ Powers did a rendition of her 1995 Rugby World Cup anthem, to the fly-over from an Emirates Airline Airbus A380 during the haka, it was a dramatic afternoon.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/TL_2253254.jpg "Damian De Allende of the Springboks and Ethan Blackadder of New Zealand during the match between South Africa and New Zealand on 31 August 2024 in Johannesburg. (Photo: Dirk Kotze/Gallo Images)")
Springbok sloppiness
The Springboks almost paid for their sloppiness, and from the many mistakes the All Blacks scored three of their four tries. The game was always going to be about the fine margins and giving Kiwis a half chance usually ends badly.
In the first half, Ben-Jason Dixon’s speculative pop pass was knocked on, and a few phases later from the turnover, wing Caleb Clarke was in for his first try.
Boks centre Damian de Allende, who otherwise had an outstanding game, threw an intercept pass with the first move of the second half, which opposite number Jordie Barrett snaffled, and raced 45 metres to score.
Minutes later, fullback Aphelele Fassi’s kick from a mark only went five metres, and from the ensuing lineout that the All Blacks threw long, the ball went to Clarke for his second try, which stretched the lead to 10 points with 28 minutes to play.
The Boks stayed in the fight, but when it really mattered they lost two attacking lineouts deep inside All Black territory with time slipping away. Less mentally tough players and teams would have folded, but the Boks kept coming, with sheer guts and belief.
The All Blacks pack edged the tight exchanges and although they lost the breakdown battle, they did enough to ensure their backs were always in the game.
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Flank Ethan Blackadder worked himself to a standstill, captain Scott Barrett took the fight to the Boks, and No 8 Ardie Savea carried tirelessly. Veteran Sam Cane justified his selection with a towering display.
The Springboks could barely escape their own 22 for most of the first 15 minutes and had to absorb mountains of pressure, compounded by a yellow card for fullback Fassi in the eighth minute.
Fassi made a try-saving tackle in the corner on All Black flank Ethan Blackadder, but cheekily knocked the ball out of the supporting New Zealand players’ hand.
That was the third try-saving tackle the Boks made in the opening seven minutes, with centre De Allende stopping Blackadder and No 8 Ardie Savea twice with desperate tackles in the right corner.
But with Fassi in the bin, the All Blacks set up a lineout five metres from the Boks’ line from the penalty, and hooker Codie Taylor dotted down.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/TL_2253232.jpg "An Emirates A380 doing a flyover at a packed Ellis Park, on 31 August 2024. (Photo: Dirk Kotze/Gallo Images)")
Staying in the fight
When the Boks finally had some ball, they started to win the collisions and came close to scoring several times before hooker Bongi Mbonambi finished from a rolling maul.
Flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu was timed out on the conversion, which was one of many moments involving him.
There is a touch of genius about Feinberg-Mngomezulu, and while he made some mistakes, he did so many outrageously good things that it’s inevitable the Boks should stay with him now as their first choice 10.
He scored 16 points from four penalties — one of them from 60 metres — and two conversions. He missed a drop-goal, kicked a restart dead, and also landed the ball on a coin. He was both brilliant and flawed.
Fassi too deserves credit for a fine evening, especially after that yellow card. Late in the game he cut through the All Blacks’ defence several times, and was rock solid under the high ball.
Lock Pieter Steph du Toit was immense, and De Allende, intercept pass aside, was massive again.
But this was a team effort and everyone did their bit on a day when not everything went right, but the world champions were still good enough to live up to the title.
Next week’s return clash in Cape Town has been set up beautifully. DM
Scorers:
South Africa – Tries: Bongi Mbonambi, Kwagga Smith, Grant Williams. Conversions: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (2). Penalties: Feinberg-Mngomezulu (4).
New Zealand: Tries: Codie Taylor, Caleb Clarke (2), Jordie Barrett. Conversions: Damian McKenzie (2). Penalty: McKenzie.