Center Marius Joubert scored a hat-trick of tries to ensure South Africa maintained their impressive record against New Zealand at Ellis Park with a 40-26 victory in a Tri-nations match on Saturday.
New Zealand have won just three of the 11 games at the Johannesburg venue and South Africa's win also ensured the Springboks kept alive their hopes for their first Tri-nations title since 1998.
PHOTO: EPA
South Africa play Australia next week in Durban in the final match of the competition. A victory of more than nine points by South Africa will consign the All Blacks to last place.
A rollercoaster game on Saturday was settled with just four minutes remaining when Joubert crashed over from an attacking scrum after a defensive mishap by Doug Howlett, who had knocked the ball on under his posts.
Although dominating possession the Springboks made a ragged start, trailing 10-0 after seven minutes courtesy of an Andrew Mehrtens penalty and a try by fullback Mils Muliaina, who weaved his way through the South African defense from 60 meters out.
South Africa then settled into the game after Welsh referee Nigel Williams went off with a hamstring strain and was replaced by Ireland's Donal Courtney.
They opened their scoring when number eight Joe van Niekerk charged off a scrum and released Joubert on his outside.
Fullback Percy Montgomery, who had a poor day with the boot, added the conversion before Mehrtens extended the All Black lead to 13-7 with a penalty after Springbok lock Victor Matfield had loitered offside.
South Africa then struck back by capitalizing on New Zealand errors, with winger Breyton Paulse scoring in the corner.
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