South Africa finished a bruising four Test series with a 43-28 win over New Zealand in Baltimore, taking Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry 3-1 after recovering from defeat in the opening Test.
The Springboks led 17-14 at half-time at M&T Bank Stadium, then broke the game open after the interval. Malcolm Marx scored from a lineout maul after 48 minutes and Pieter-Steph du Toit followed soon after as South Africa established a 15-point lead.
South Africa found the finish
New Zealand had begun the series with a 33-16 victory at Ellis Park. South Africa responded with wins in Cape Town and Soweto before closing it out in the United States.
The final Test was still alive when Ethan Blackadder answered South Africa’s early second-half surge. Kurt-Lee Arendse then pounced on a New Zealand knock-on to score, and Cameron Hanekom added another before Beauden Barrett’s late try.
South Africa scored six tries, through Damian de Allende, Morné van den Berg, Marx, du Toit, Arendse and Hanekom. Codie Taylor, Will Jordan, Blackadder and Barrett scored for New Zealand.
The difference was composure
The All Blacks created fewer opportunities than in the earlier Tests, while South Africa took the chances offered to them. That is the hard truth of a series decided by fine margins for three weeks and by a clear finish in Baltimore.
For the Springboks, the win came in Rassie Erasmus’s 100th Test in charge and in front of 68,173 spectators, a record crowd for a rugby match in the United States.
The scoreline will travel well ahead of 2027. So will the sight of South Africa turning a tight contest into a decisive one when the pressure rose.
Reporting: SA Rugby, All Blacks