bA moment of magic from All Blacks fullback Damian McKenzie was the defining moment as South Africa lost 25-24 at Newlands on Saturday. WADE PRETORIUS reports.

The Springboks turned in an inspired performance, arguably their best under coach Allister Coetzee, but it was not enough as the diminutive McKenzie scored a late try to cap their fine Rugby Championship campaign with a win.

The Boks trailed 8-3 at the break after Elton Jantjies opened the scoring with a third-minute penalty. What followed was a battle for the ages as the hosts gave no inch in a titanic arm wrestle in front of more than 47 000 fans in Cape Town.

Coetzee’s side were vastly improved from recent showings, winning the collisions and making a number of tackles as the Kiwis threw everything at them and then some.

Only a poor escape kick from Jantjies was charged down and led to the half’s only try as centre Ryan Crotty dotted down after a foot race between Jesse Kriel and flyhalf Beauden Barrett. That try finally saw the All Blacks convert some their territorial domination after Nehe Milner-Skudder’s audicious behind the back pass to Aaron Smith somehow did not result in an early score. The nature of the pass was unnecessary and Smith followed it up with some poor decision making to let the Boks off the hook.

Jantjies was having a nightmare game which included a miss from in front of the poles in the 26th minute. He was often caught behind the advantage line with ball in hand and was lucky not to be punished after he missed a tackle on the wing as Rieko Ioane flew past him before the speedstar was thwarted on the line by a combination of a desperate Kriel tackle and a flailing hand by Andries Coetzee. Somehow, the Boks kept themselves in the contest as the clock wound down towards the break.

Both sides gave the crowd value for money as they played 10 minutes injury time, with no team blinking in the pursuit of scoreboard and psychological pressure ahead of the second half.

After an indifferent opening 40 minutes, Jantjies set up the Springboks first try after a wonderfully executed cross-kick deep in behind the All Blacks defence. Jantjies Lions’ teammate Ross Cronje sealed the try as he dotted down on the goal posts, following sustained pressure in the build-up play by his forwards.

The match continued its frenetic pace as the All Blacks continued to attack from every angle. The Springboks, however, with Malcolm Marx, Eben Etzebeth, Jesse Kriel and Jan Serfontein coming to the fore held the visitors, making tackle after tackle and winning valuable metres with ball in hand.

Just when it seemed like the Boks were going to extend their lead, Courtnall Skosan’s attempted pass – a speculative flick-on effort – found Ioane’s hands as he raced away to score and open a five point lead.

The match stepped up a gear – if that was even possible – with the introduction of Handre Pollard, Jean-Luc Du Preez and to a lesser extent Franco Mostert. Pollard made his presence felt immediately as he broke the line offloaded to Marx who timed his pass perfectly to send an elated Du Preez over the line to send the Boks out in front 15-10.

Then came McKenzie’s moment of magic as the Chiefs star latched onto an innocuous pass in midfield and weaved his way to the try line to the dismay of the home crowd – albeit packed with large pockets of support for the world’s No 1-ranked side.

The Springboks were dealt a hammer blow when replacement back Damian de Allende was shown a red card for a leading elbow when trying to charge down a Lima Sopoaga drop goal. The reserve 10, who to his credit did not milk the incident, dusted himself off and converted to hand the All Blacks what appeared to be an unassailable lead at 25-17 with just a handful of minutes left on the clock.

There would be no leaving the stadium early, as Marx scored soon after the restart and Jantjies converted from the corner in rapid time to make it a one-point ball game with a minute left to play.

Unfortunately for the Springboks, there was no late, late hurrah as the All Blacks enforced a last turnover after the hooter and wisely kicked the ball out to claim yet another famous victory in what proved to be a wonderful advertisement for Test rugby.

While the Springboks stemmed the tide of recent heavy defeats to the All Blacks (41-13 and 57-15 last year and 57-0 three weeks ago), they conspired against themselves to lose this one with some curious kicking in the first half, Jantjies’ wasteful effort from out in front and some key mistakes in defence.

Springboks – Tries: Ross Cronjé, Jean-Luc du Preez, Malcolm Marx. Conversions: Elton Jantjies (2), Handré Pollard. Penalty: Jantjies.
All Blacks – Tries: Ryan Crotty, Rieko Ioane, Damian McKenzie,  Conversions: Lima Sopoaga (2). Penalties: Beauden Barrett, Sopoaga.

Springboks – 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Dillyn Leyds, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Ross Cronjé, 8 Francois Louw, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Steven Kitshoff
Subs: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Jean-Luc du Preez, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Handré Pollard, 23 Damian de Allende

All Blacks – 15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Nehe Milner-Skudder, 13 Ryan Crotty, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Rieko Ioane, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Liam Squire, 5 Scott Barrett, 4 Samuel Whitelock, 3 Nepo Laulala, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Kane Hames
Subs: 16 Codie Taylor, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 19 Patrick Tuipulotu, 20 Matt Todd, 21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22 Lima Sopoaga, 23 David Havili

Photo: Dirk Kotze/Gallo Images