Springboks look at home in US as they down All Blacks to clinch first series win in 50 years
South Africa produced a devastating second-half display to beat New Zealand 43-28 in the final fourth Test in Baltimore on Saturday and clinch their first series victory against the All Blacks in 50 years.
The Springboks saved their best performance for the last match as they ran in six tries to four to win Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry 3-1.
They looked at home in the US as most of the players put in fine performances, across the forwards and backline.
Kurt-Lee Arendse scored a brilliant solo try inside the final 10 minutes to push the gap to 15 points after the conversion, with substitute flanker Cameron Hanekom going over a few minutes later to make it an emphatic win.
Up front Eben Etzebeth put in another powerful display where he disrupted the New Zealand lineout and won turnover at the maul.
Eighthman Jasper Wiese worked like a Trojan, running hard at the opposition, and Pieter-Steph du Toit was as busy as usual.
Malcolm Marx scored his eighth try to join Bryan Habana as the country’s highest try-scorer against New Zealand.
Scrumhalf Morne van den Berg was a livewire behind the scrum and apart from scoring a try also made a great break early in the second half.
The South African backs were impeccable under the high ball — defending and chasing.
The match started at a quick pace, with the South Africans showing an eagerness to run the ball from every angle.
Both sides went over two tries each in the first half, all of them coming off rucks or mauls.
After De Allende and Van den Berg had scored converted tries to put the Boks 17-7 ahead, it looked like South Africa were finally going to have an easy day of it.
But the All Blacks fought back, attacking with patience as they went through 32 phases before sending the ball down the line for right wing Will Jordan to force his way over the line, despite being held by Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
Jordan had made the key line break in the build-up to New Zealand’s first try by skipper Codie Taylor.
5News aggregated this summary from the outlet’s public feed. The full article, with all the context, is on www.timeslive.co.za — the content belongs to TimesLIVE Sport.
