South Africa edge out New Zealand to claim superb 31-27 win in Johannesburg

South Africa 31-27 New Zealand, Johannesburg

South Africa scored two tries in the last 12 minutes as they came from behind to beat New Zealand 31-27 in the third round of the Rugby Championship in Johannesburg.

The Boks were also aided by a yellow card shown to New Zealand replacement Ofa Tu'ungafasi as they completed their third consecutive win over the All Blacks that includes a 12-11 victory in the 2023 Rugby World Cup final.

Rassie Erasmus' men now have three wins in as many games strengthening their position at the top of the Rugby Championship table while New Zealand now have two defeats from the three rounds.

The home side had an early setback in the 6th minute when Aphelele Fassi was sin-binned for an offside infringement and New Zealand immediately made use of the numerical advantage with Codie Taylor going over at the back of a line out maul. Damian McKenzie kicked the conversion to make it 0-7.

The response from the Boks came at the end of the first quarter as New Zealand looked to halt a South African maul at the end of which Bongi Mbonambi showed great resilience to go over the line. Sacha Mngomezulu missed the conversion but kicked a penalty goal on the half-hour mark to put the Boks into the lead for the first time.

The visitors seized the advantage back in the 35th minute as Tyrel Lomax, Beauden Barrett and Will Jordan combined to send Caleb Clarke over but McKenzie missed out on the conversion making it 8-12. Mngomezulu's second penalty on the stroke of half-time ensured the teams completed the opening 40 with an 11-12 scoreline.

New Zealand were quickest out of the blocks in the second half as Jordie Barrett intercepted a pass from Jesse Kriel to dot down and McKenzie's conversion made it 11-19 before an infringement from Ethan Blackadder allowed Mngomezulu to kick his third penalty goal in the 45th minute making it 14-19.

The gap between the teams remained at five points as McKenzie and Mngomezulu traded penalties before Clarke scored his second in the 51st minute after showing a superb burst of pace.

The decisive moment came in the 68th minute when Tu’ungafasi was sin-binned for collapsing a South African maul and shortly after, Kwagga Smith accelerated over the line for South Africa's second try making it a three-point game.

With the numerical advantage on their side, the Boks continued to push on as they set up a maul at the end of which Grant Williams went over to complete a thrilling win for the home side. The world champions found a way.

South Africa Starting XV: A Fassi; C Kolbe, J Kriel, D de Allende, K-L Arendse; S Feinberg-Mngomezulu, C Reinach; O Nche, B Mbonambi, F Malherbe, P-S du Toit, R Nortje, S Kolisi (c), B-J Dixon, J Wiese.

Replacements: M Marx, G Steenekamp, V Koch, E Etzebeth, E Louw, K Smith, G Williams, H Pollard.

New Zealand Starting XV: B Barrett; W Jordan, R Ioane, J Barrett, C Clarke; D McKenzie, TJ Perenara; T Williams, C Taylor, T Lomax, S Barrett (c), T Vaa’i, E Blackadder, S Cane, A Savea.

Replacements: A Aumua, O Tu’ungafasi, F Newell, S Darry, S Finau, C Ratima, A Lienert-Brown, M Tele’a.