The Springboks take a 2-1 lead in Rugby's Greatest Rivalry series into the final Test in Baltimore, USA.
Springbok loose forward Pieter-Steph du Toit charges through the All Blacks defence during the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry match at the FNB Stadium in Soweto on Saturday night. Picture: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images
The Springboks produced a brilliant fighting performance to come back from trailing at times against the All Blacks to eventually clinch a well-deserved 29-24 win in the third Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Test at the FNB Stadium in Soweto on Saturday evening.
The All Blacks hit the front in the 10th minute of the match, and weren’t headed until the 59th minute when the Boks finally hit the front for the first time, before pulling away to a 29-17 lead, with the visitors scoring a consolation try after the fulltime hooter.
The win gives the Boks a 2-1 series lead and means they cannot lose Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series, with the fourth and final Test to be played in Baltimore, USA, next weekend. Here are three takeaways from the match.
Big injury blows
The Springboks suffered an early big blow when Cheslin Kolbe went off with a broken jaw in the 10th minute, which was the same time that Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu was yellow carded, leading to Manie Libbok coming on.
With Kolbe obviously not returning, it meant once Feinberg-Mngomezulu returned from his 10 minutes in the bin, he moved to fullback for the remainder of the game.
For the All Blacks it was their captain and talisman Ardie Savea who left the field in the 30th minute with what looked like a shoulder injury after he was heavily cleaned out at a ruck by Bok hooker Malcolm Marx.
Savea was in scintillating form, having scored both of his team’s tries up to that point, and he was sorely missed over the rest of the match.
Springbok scrum finally rewarded
After a poor reffing performance of the scrums from Aussie ref Angus Gardner a week ago in Cape Town, the Springboks finally got their just reward from Georgian ref Nika Amashukeli at the FNB Stadium.
The first few scrums were for the All Blacks, and although the Boks looked to get the upper hand, the New Zealanders got the ball in and out quickly. The first scrum on their own feed for the Springboks showed immediate dominance and a penalty from which they cleared their lines.
But a massive moment came in the 36th minute. From a penalty on the All Blacks 5m line the Boks chose to scrum and ruthlessly drove the All Blacks back over their own line leading to a penalty try.
The first two Bok scrums after halftime also ended with penalties awarded to them. The All Blacks did manage to earn a penalty on their own feed at one point, but the Boks continued to earn scrum penalties on their own ball over the rest of the match.
Springboks hit back every time
The All Blacks were the first to score and kept going ahead, but the Boks managed to hit back every time.
In the first half Ardie Savea opened the scoring for his side with a 10th minute converted try, but Kurt-Lee Arendse responded for the Boks in the 20th minute to make it 7-5. Savea powered over for a second in the 25th minute, but the Boks levelled things at 12-all at halftime after a huge scrum led to a penalty try.
In the second half the All Blacks again hit the front, Will Jordan finishing off a good try in the 55th, but with Ruben Love missing his second conversion, it allowed the Boks to hit the front as they immediately responded with Jesse Kriel scoring a wonderful try after a strong fend off and run in, which was converted to put them up 19-17.
A monster maul try to Malcolm Marx then pushed the Boks into a 26-17 lead in the 65th minute, and a Feinberg-Mngomezulu penalty a few minutes later put them well ahead.
