New Zealand stayed firm at their Eden Park fortress to claim an attritional 24-17 win over South Africa in a heavyweight clash between the world’s top two sides.
Under pressure after conceding a first-ever defeat on Argentine soil against the Pumas two weeks ago, the All Blacks responded with a performance of grit and discipline to stretch their unbeaten run at their Auckland stronghold to 51 matches.
Two well-taken tries by Emoni Narawa and Will Jordan set up a 14-3 lead at half-time before Quinn Tupaea grabbed a third five-pointer for the hosts 13 minutes from time.
Well-held for most of the night, the Springboks rallied with second-half tries to Malcolm Marx and Cobus Reinach to pull within a converted try but the All Blacks held on, with Ardie Savea making a heroic turnover in his 100th test to seal the win.
“It was a gutsy performance, I’m just proud of the boys, we knew the Springboks were going to come here and give it to us,” said Savea. “I’m just proud of the way the boys fronted up.”
Fired up on the night of Savea’s milestone, the All Blacks started with pace and ferocity to score their first try in the second minute and shot to a 14-0 lead by the 18th. Playmaker Beauden Barrett set up the opener, kicking cross-field to Narawa on the right wing. Narawa slipped as he caught the ball but had a clear run at the try-line when covering fullback Willie le Roux ran over the top of him.
New Zealand’s Emoni Narawa charges towards the tryline. Photograph: Hannah Peters/Getty Images
While Narawa’s game was over with an apparent rib injury minutes later, the All Blacks rolled on. Fullback Jordan burst clear from a lineout set play to cross by the posts, leaving bamboozled Boks in his wake.
There was no respite for the visitors until Handré Pollard knocked over a penalty in the 23rd minute and began dictating terms with his boot. Though able to stop the All Blacks scoring, the Springboks wasted their own chances with skill and set-piece errors.
The arm wrestle continued for 10 minutes into the second half until South Africa infringed at a ruck, falling further behind when Damian McKenzie slotted the penalty.
It took a bullocking run by Kwagga Smith near the hour mark to finally unlock the All Blacks’ defence, with Marx grabbing the ball out of a ruck on the line to barge over and trim the margin to a converted try.
But the rally was shortlived as Tupaea, fresh off the bench, sliced through three Springboks tacklers to cross at the right post.
Still the Springboks came again to raise the tension, with Reinach following Smith’s blueprint with a run down the left channel for his try in the 74th minute.
With two minutes on the clock and with his team pinned on their try-line, Savea dug in his heels to claim the vital turnover and keep the All Blacks’ 31-year unbeaten run at Eden Park intact.
The Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus was left to rue a slow start and numerous errors. South Africa were hoping to end an 88-year wait for a Test victory win at Eden Park where New Zealand have not lost since France beat them in 1994. But the visitors’ error count both on defence and attack was too high.
“We were 14 points behind after two easy tries and we found ourselves chasing our own tails, and that was in the rain as well,” Erasmus said. “I thought the replacements brought energy and we fought back well but it’s tough to win if you are 14 points behind. We made two individual errors and they scored tries, and the other times they had to grind, so it’s frustrating.
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“It’s not always the same players making the mistakes, and some of them were stupid errors. But as coaches we pick the players and as management we have to sometimes put up our hands and say we got it wrong.”
South Africa will face New Zealand again in Wellington next Saturday. “If we had won, we would probably have mentioned the history but they managed to maintain their record at Eden Park and well done to them for that,” said Erasmus. “It was a great challenge for us but we didn’t achieve it. That said, we have another chance to face them next week.”