New Zealand finished the 2017 Rugby Championship unbeaten after holding off a spirited South African side 25-24 at Newlands in Cape Town on Saturday night.
The Springboks, trying to avenge their 57-0 defeat to the All Blacks earlier in the competition, put in arguably their best effort of the competition to try and beat the world champions. But in the end the All Blacks class and a questionable red card towards the end of the match prevented them from beating their bitter rivals for the first time since 2014.
The Boks had an element of luck in the first half at Newlands, which they didn't have during the Albany mauling. The All Blacks didn't make use of the plethora of chances the Boks gave them by turning over possession and kicking the ball aimlessly away.
The All Blacks turned the Boks' ball over in the seventh minute of the clash, and with some good hands sent wing Nehe Milner-Skudder away down the right flank. The Hurricanes man then came up with magical inside pass to Beauden Barrett but the move came to nothing.
The South Africans then took a 3-0 lead a few moments later when the All Blacks were pinned at the breakdown. Elton Jantjies converted the penalty.
The All Blacks, though, struck back straight from the kick off when the Boks made a hash of gathering the restart -- a common failing during the tournament. Beauden Barrett levelled the scores from the kicking tee.
The Boks continued to ride their luck in the first stanza. Wing Rieko Ioane should have scored in the 17th minute after a powerful run down the left wing, but he lost the ball when trying to dot the ball down over the tryline.
The All Blacks then won a penalty from the resulting scrum, but conceded a penalty for holding on a few metres from the Boks' tryline. The home side thus survived again. Hooker Malcolm Marx was outstanding for the Boks, especially at the breakdown where he competed and stole a lot of ball. He won a crucial penalty for the Boks when they were again defending on their own line.
The Boks' luck, though, ran out eight minutes before halftime, when Ryan Crotty scored a try. It looked like the centre may well have lost the ball over the line, but the try stood after several replays.
However, South Africa struck a few minutes after the break when scrumhalf Ross Cronje scored against the post after top-class build-up, in which the hosts showed a lot more intent on attack after kicking too much ball away in the first half.
But the All Blacks regained the lead in the 60th minute when Ioane intercepted a loose pass by Cronje. The wing sprinted from his own 22m to dot down and Lima Sopoaga converted to make the score 15-10.
The Springboks, much-improved from the Albany match, refused to be disheartened though. Allister Coetzee's men dug deep in the closing 15 minutes and took the game to the All Blacks. Handré Pollard came on for Jantjies and brought a more direct approach to the Boks.
His break and offload to Marx led to a try for substitute Jean-Luc du Preez in the 65th minute, which gave the Boks a 17-15 lead... giving the 47 000-strong crowd the inkling that an upset might be on the cards.
But you can never count out the All Blacks. A wonderful try by fullback Damian McKenzie and with 11 minutes to go gave them a slender 22-17 lead. And replacement flyhalf Sopoaga then extended that lead with eight minutes left after Bok replacement centre Damian de Allende was red-carded after he made contact to the face of Sopoaga after trying to charge down a drop kick.
The Boks scored a converted try two minutes before the end via Marx after a powerful rolling maul. But in the end they just couldn't get over the line, as the All Blacks finished the Rugby Championship with a 100 per cent record.
