South Africa lead their four-match series against New Zealand 2-1 after a 29-24 victory at Soccer City on Saturday, powered by a dominant second-half display that overcame a 12-12 halftime stalemate.
The Springboks trailed for much of the first half after a damaging double setback in the 10th minute: Cheslin Kolbe left the field with a head injury — having converted all 11 goal kicks he attempted across the first two tests — and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu was yellow-carded for deliberately knocking down an Ardie Savea pass. New Zealand capitalised immediately, Savea collecting from a halted Asafo Aumua line-out break to score, before adding a second try on 26 minutes after snatching the ball from a held-up Kurt-Lee Arendse to push the All Blacks 12-5 ahead.
South Africa responded just before the interval when Georgian referee Nika Amashukeli awarded a penalty try following a scrum infringement near the New Zealand line, with Ruben Love also sin-binned. The penalty try levelled the match at 12-12 at the break — Arendse's earlier corner finish having been the Springboks' only other score of the half.
With Feinberg-Mngomezulu back on, South Africa took control after the hour mark. Will Jordan scored for New Zealand from a Leroy Carter offload, but Jesse Kriel replied when Carter's attempted tackle failed. Feinberg-Mngomezulu's conversion gave the hosts a 19-17 lead. Malcolm Marx then drove over and Feinberg-Mngomezulu added the conversion and a penalty to stretch the advantage to 12 points. A Samisoni Taukei'aho pushover try after the hooter gave the final scoreline a closer look than the match warranted.
For the All Blacks, Savea finished with two tries, Jordan and Taukei'aho one each, with conversions shared between Love and Damian McKenzie. Feinberg-Mngomezulu kicked two conversions and a penalty for South Africa.
The series concludes in Baltimore on 12 September.