JOHANNESBURG — In a rollercoaster, high-stakes rugby test that kept 85,970 roaring fans on the edge of their seats, South Africa pulled off a thrilling 29-24 victory over New Zealand on Saturday, snatching a 2-1 lead in their landmark test series.
The win marks a remarkable turnaround for the Springboks, who dropped the opening match of the series. With just one fixture remaining, South Africa has already guaranteed it cannot lose the series, and will head into next Saturday’s fourth and final test in Cape Town (corrected from original erroneous location) with a historic milestone in its sights: a first series victory over the All Blacks since 1976.
For nearly an hour of the match, New Zealand held the upper hand on the scoreboard, but the Springboks’ dominant scrum slowly shifted momentum in their favor. The home side grabbed its first lead of the match at the 60-minute mark, before sealing the result with a grueling, well-drilled lineout maul that ended with hooker Malcolm Marx diving over the try line, slamming the turf in unbridled celebration.
For the first time across the series, the two sides finished level on tries, with four apiece. The match saw a late injury blow to South Africa starting goalkicker Cheslin Kolbe, forcing young playmaker Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu into kicking duties. The stand-in delivered under pressure, slotting two conversions and one critical penalty.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s clinical performance stood in stark contrast to New Zealand’s kicker Ruben Love, who left seven easy points on the table from missed shots at goal. Most damaging for the All Blacks, however, was an early injury to inspirational captain Ardie Savea. Savea crossed for two tries, moving to the top of the all-time list for most test tries by a men’s forward, but was forced off the pitch with a rib injury just 30 minutes into the match, robbing the side of its key physical and leadership presence.
The opening 40 minutes of end-to-end action finished locked at 12-12, with both sides trading tries early. In a fractious sequence, Feinberg-Mngomezulu escaped with just a yellow card for a deliberate pass knockdown, avoiding what could have been a penalty try for the All Blacks, in the same attacking movement that saw Kolbe leave the pitch with a head injury.
Shortly after the card, a powerful break from New Zealand hooker Asafo Aumua set up Savea’s opening try, his 34th in international play. Down to 14 men, South Africa held firm and hit back, with Damian de Allende creating an overlap for right winger Kurt-Lee Arendse to cross the line.
Savea’s second score came from a smart line: a massive sidestep from Tupou Vaa’i, playing his 50th test, opened space, before a skip pass from Vaa’i to Leroy Carter put Savea into open space to score. Five minutes later, Savea was helped from the field clutching his ribs, with replacement Wallace Sititi entering the fray — a notable family moment, as Sititi’s sister Amarante had come off the bench to score in the New Zealand women’s victory over South Africa in the earlier curtain-raiser match.
The final 10 minutes saw New Zealand pinned deep in its own half, with Love sin-binned for a transgression. South Africa’s already imposing scrum forced a penalty try to level the scores after New Zealand interfered with a pushover attempt. New Zealand responded by earning a scrum penalty of its own after referee Nika Amashukeli penalized South Africa for moving off the mark, but Love missed the long-range 52-meter effort, wasting a golden chance to retake the lead.
Love also missed the conversion of Will Jordan’s 54th test try, which came after Jordan chipped the defense, collected a pop pass from Carter to score. That left New Zealand holding a narrow two-point lead heading into the final stretch, but a series of unforced All Blacks errors handed the initiative back to the Springboks.
A missed tackle from Leroy Carter let Jesse Kriel walk in unopposed for a try, flipping the 17-12 New Zealand lead into a South African advantage. The Springboks extended their lead to nine points with just 14 minutes left to play, before the decisive lineout maul that created Marx’s match-sealing score in front of the massive home crowd.
New Zealand still has a chance to salvage a drawn series in the final test next weekend, but stand-in All Blacks captain Luke Jacobson acknowledged after the match that his side had been outplayed in the critical closing stages. “They got on top of us,” Jacobson said of the decisive match-winning maul.