The All Blacks brought the Springboks back to earth by claiming a decisive bonus-point Rugby Championship victory to continue their unbeaten run in Auckland on Saturday.

Going into the match high on confidence after a sensational win over the Wallabies and looking to win in Auckland for the first time in the professional era, the Springboks suffered a 35-20 loss to their rivals at the Mount Smart Stadium.

The result sees New Zealand put themselves in the driving seat to claim a third-straight Rugby Championship title, as they will travel to Australia to face the Wallabies in the final round, while South Africa will have to get a result in Argentina.

The All Blacks built their win on a sensational opening 20 minutes, during which they dominated the collisions, had all the momentum, forced the Boks into errors and ruthlessly took their opportunities to open up a 17-point gap.

Was this a try by Cheslin Kolbe? 👀

Schalk and Shimmy seem to disagree with the ref here 👇

Score: 17-0

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The Springboks wasted little time in calling the famed ‘Bomb Squad’ off the bench and it produced an improved performance in the second half, with Malcolm Marx going over from a massive maul, before Willie le Roux produced a wonderful flat pass to put Kolbe over in the corner.

However, New Zealand rallied in the final 15 minutes and Beauden Barrett set up Will Jordan with a brilliant cross-field kick to extend the home side’s lead. Richie Mo’unga then sealed the victory with an excellent flat run off a five-metre scrum, wrapping up his personal haul of 20 points.