SIGNED AND SEALED: Balti-maul — Springboks win series 3-1 over All Blacks after US victory

The Springboks have now won everything there is to win. They are undoubtedly the best team in the world, but they were pushed to the edge in four pulsating clashes against their old rivals, New Zealand.

The Boks’ 43-28 win in Baltimore, Maryland was the most one-sided of the four clashes, with the final score perhaps flattering the All Blacks thanks to a last-minute try from replacement back Beauden Barrett.

The Boks outscored New Zealand by six tries to four in the match and dominated large swathes of the contest, but the All Blacks refused to go away.

Every time it looked like the dam wall was about to burst as the Boks turned the screw, the All Blacks found a way to respond, ensuring that the match outcome remained in doubt.

It was a theme of the entire Greatest Rivalry series.  

Gold standard of rugby

The Springboks remain the gold standard of rugby and will now head into 2027 – regardless of what happens for the remainder of this season – as the favourites to win Rugby World Cup 2027.

But New Zealand are on the rise under coach Dave Rennie, which makes the scheduling of their probable Rugby World Cup 2027 quarterfinal clash next year look even more ridiculous.

That is a headache for another day though because the Boks took this four-match series 3-1. After losing the opening Test 33-16 at Ellis Park, the World Champions responded with three consecutive wins in Cape Town, Soweto and Baltimore.

Series of firsts

It’s the first time since 2009 that the Boks have won three Tests in a row against the All Blacks in the same year. It’s also the first time since 2022 that New Zealand have lost three consecutive Tests.

The Boks have now won eight of their last 10 Tests against the All Blacks to underline their dominance in the rivalry, but under Rennie, the Kiwis have closed the gap considerably.

Over the four Tests the Boks outscored the All Blacks by 121 points to 111, but New Zealand scored 17 tries to the Boks’ 14. The margins were that tight.

Baltimore or bust

In the early hours of Sunday morning (SA time), there was no doubt about who was the better team in the series. Last week in Soweto, the Boks stamped their authority on the contest with a 29-24 win, which set the tone for the US showdown.

Siya Kolisi’s men carried that momentum into Baltimore where they put the All Blacks under immense pressure for large portions of the game. But like the Terminator, the All Blacks refused to stay down, continuing to throw haymakers despite being on the back foot for much of the game.

The Boks made 11 line breaks to the All Blacks eight, and in 142 ball carries the World Champions made 523 post-contact metres. From 137 carries the All Blacks could only make 369 post-contact metres while all the other metrics were on a knife’s edge.

In a way, All Black wing Will Jordan’s try on the stroke of halftime summed up the series and the dogged willpower of both teams.

The All Blacks took the ball through 32 phases in the face of relentless and accurate defence, before fashioning space of Jordan to score.

It was a microcosm of the effort both teams put into the month-long Test series, which, given the quality of the rugby, completely justified the decision to return to old-school tours.

Before Jordan’s score – the second for the All Blacks on the day – the Springboks had themselves dished out a physical beating, scoring through the incredible efforts of Damian de Allende and the sensational scrumhalf Morné van den Berg.

Bok hooker Malcolm Marx, another player who enjoyed a superb game and a fine series, scored from the back of a rolling maul early in the second half to extend the Boks’ lead. It was Marx’s eighth try against the All Blacks and his 29^th in Test rugby.

Minutes later the tireless Pieter-Steph du Toit finished off a sweeping move that started from a scrum 70m downfield. Van den Berg broke down the blindside and combined with flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and flank André Esterhuizen to set up Du Toit.

That stretched the lead to 29-14, with less than 30 minutes to play.

All Blacks clung on

The All Blacks appeared to be on the brink of total collapse at that stage, but clung on.

When the Boks conceded two breakdown penalties in two minutes, New Zealand used the momentum to fashion a try for hard-working flank Ethan Blackadder to narrow the deficit.

From the restart, Manie Libbok kicked the ball directly out and the brief momentum shift turned into a mini-crisis for the Boks.

But they weathered the storm with typical belligerent defence. When replacement flank Cameron Hanekom cut down wing Josh Moorby from behind in a well-timed tackle as the All Black flyer received the ball, it changed the momentum.

The loose ball fell for the wonderful Kurt-Lee Arendse, who scythed his way through the defence from 60m for a try that settled the contest.

Minutes later Hanekom, following the ball into the New Zealand red zone, won a battle for possession on the deck, and scored. Game over.

Slender advantage

The Springboks went into the break with a slender advantage, but it should have been so much more, given their dominance.

After a fast start, that yielded a penalty via Feinberg-Mngomezulu for the opening points of the game, New Zealand enjoyed a short period of superiority that led to a try for hooker Codie Taylor in the eighth minute.

The build-up was breathtaking, as the All Blacks – committed to their ball-in-hand approach – shifted the ball through six sets of hands in a few seconds to engineer space on the left. Taylor finished but it was what went before that made the try, and it was a thing of beauty.

But from then on until the 32^nd minute, the Boks completely dominated, bending the All Blacks’ defensive line repeatedly.

Centre Damian de Allende was particularly brilliant, but others such as Marx, captain Kolisi, Lock Eben Etzebeth and No 8 Jasper Wiese were all on hand to punch holes through New Zealand’s defence.

De Allende scored the Boks’ opening try when he sniped over from close range. It was the end of a sweeping move in which he featured three times, with Feinberg-Mngomezulu also prominent.

After a 10-minute break to sort out the refereeing communications – which came at a welcome time for a New Zealand side who were on the rack – the Boks picked up where the game stalled.

From a penalty and a kick to touch, the Boks won the lineout and mauled to the line before Van den Berg took possession, dummied and went through a hole to score.

The All Blacks struck back just before the break thanks to Jordan’s 55^th Test try at the end of a 32-phase build-up, which ensured it was all to play for in the second half.

Just as it had been for the entire series. DM

Scorers

South Africa – Tries: Damian de Allende, Morné van den Berg, Malcolm Marx, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Cameron Hanekom. Conversions: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (2), Morné van den Berg, Manie Libbok (2). Penalty: Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

New Zealand – Tries: Codie Taylor, Will Jordan, Ethan Blackadder, Beauden Barrett. Conversions: Damian McKenzie (4).