Damian McKenzie has spared the All Blacks’ blushes, dotting down with 10 minutes remaining as the world champions staggered to a 25-24 Rugby Championship win over South Africa in Cape Town.
In stark contrast to last month’s 57-0 demolition job in Albany, the All Blacks simply couldn’t get their game going against the old enemy.
Finding the breakdown packed and the Boks’ defensive line resolute – and an opposition hooker in Malcolm Marx that played the Test match of his life – the Kiwis bagged three tries but rarely turned on the style.
Only McKenzie’s 69th-minute try fitted the bill.
Collecting a David Havili pass on the right edge, fullback McKenzie scurried free of his marker down the outside to score a crucial try.
The five-pointer put the All Blacks up 22-17 and, following a Lima Sopoaga penalty goal, the 14-man Boks hit back through Marx.
But they couldn’t do so twice.
The win hands the All Blacks their second consecutive Rugby Championship clean sweep and holds them in good stead ahead of their end-of-year tour.
“Both teams just really threw everything into that,” captain Kieran Read said.
“I think we knew that was going to be the case, them at home, a bit of adversity from their point of view, from last time.
“We’ll learn from it but when you’re in that situation, you’ve got to remain as calm as you can and I think the boys did that.”
In a frenetic and often slapdash Test match, the All Blacks found themselves battling a significantly improved South African outfit.
Dominating the breakdown, the Boks forced 20 turnovers from the typically clinical All Blacks and went blow-for-blow up front.
Hooker Marx defended as an auxiliary loose forward, jackling astutely, while flame-haired prop Steven Kitshoff was everywhere.
The world champions’ sole try of the first half was thus taken in an appropriately messy fashion, with both sides nabbing earlier penalty goals.
First five-eighth Beauden Barrett managed to charge down a 31st-minute Jantjies punt, before kicking ahead for Ryan Crotty to plant down with his waist.
Yet the try came at a cost for the Kiwis as Barrett came off with concussion, and winger Nehe Milner-Skudder followed suit with a shoulder injury.
Up 8-3 at the break, the All Blacks went tit-for-tat with the Boks in the second stanza but struggled to nail the decisive play.
Halfback Ross Cronje crashed over in the 45th minute, before Rieko Ioane and Jean-Luc du Preez traded tries in the tightest of Tests.
Enter McKenzie with 11 minutes left on the clock, and salvation.