South Africa produced a devastating second-half display to beat New Zealand 43-28 in Baltimore on Saturday, clinching their first series victory against the All Blacks in 50 years. The Springboks ran in six tries to four to seal the inaugural Castle Double Malt Rugby's Greatest Rivalry title 3-1, with a USA rugby record crowd of more than 68,000 — the majority expatriate South Africans — roaring them home.

The match was in the balance until the final quarter, when Kurt-Lee Arendse scored a brilliant solo try inside the final 10 minutes to push the gap to 15 points after the conversion. Substitute flanker Cameron Hanekom went over shortly afterwards to make it emphatic. Malcolm Marx had earlier scored his eighth try against New Zealand, joining Bryan Habana as the country's highest try-scorer against the All Blacks.

Erasmus: "We want them to be happy"

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus reiterated the team's motivation in the wake of the victory. "It was awesome to see so many South Africans here; I don't how they afford it or how they got here, but it's great," said Erasmus. "We appreciate the people who were here, but we don't forget the people who were at home; the people in the farm or the boy in the township or the people in the shopping mall. That's what drives us. Obviously we want to win and that's great for us as a team and that's why we play rugby, but we want them to be happy."

The win confirmed the world number-one status of the back-to-back world champions. Erasmus conceded that the Springboks' approach was not always easy for others to accept. "I know we sometimes annoy other people around the world for the way go about things, or the angle we take on issues, but we really care the most about South African people," he said.

Captain Siya Kolisi also acknowledged the global support. "The support is really special for us — that's who we do it for; the people who can afford to come here and those who are at home," Kolisi said. "Because there was a long stoppage, we were still in the zone, but my goodness, but in that moment, you get to appreciate the crowd singing and enjoying the environment and hopefully we have made it special for them."

Forwards and backs fire

Up front, Eben Etzebeth put in another powerful display, disrupting the New Zealand lineout and winning turnovers 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. Scrumhalf Morne van den Berg was a livewire behind the scrum, scoring a try and making a great break early in the second half. The South African backs were impeccable under the high ball, both defending and chasing.

The match started at a quick pace, with both sides going over two tries each in the first half. After Damian de Allende and Van den Berg had scored converted tries to put the Boks 17-7 ahead, the All Blacks fought back through Will Jordan, who forced his way over 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. But the Springboks saved their best performance for the final quarter, running in four second-half tries to seal a historic series triumph and underline their status as the world's premier side.