New Zealand vs South Africa live: Result and reaction as All Blacks survive Springboks battle to win crucial Rugby Championship clash

What a day for Ardie Savea. He won his 100th All Blacks cap, beat bitter rivals South Africa and got a crucial turnover that stopped the Boks metres from the line with a couple of minutes left.

Here’s his thoughts on everything.

New Zealand held 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 rugby 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 halftime before Quinn Tupaea grabbed a third five-pointer for the hosts 13 minutes from time.

Here’s the full report from today’s clash:

Here’s the full schedule for this year’s Championship

South Africa 22-38 Australia

Argentina 24-41 New Zealand

South Africa 30-22 Australia

Argentina 29-23 New Zealand

Australia 28-24 Argentina

New Zealand 24-17 South Africa

Australia vs Argentina – Sydney, 5am BST

New Zealand vs South Africa – Wellington, 8.05am BST

New Zealand vs Australia – Auckland, 6.05am BST

South Africa vs Argentina – Durban, 4.10pm BST

Australia vs New Zealand – Perth, 10.45am BST

Argentina vs South Africa – Twickenham, 2pm BST

Here are some key stats from today’s clash – ultimately not much in it

Territory: New Zealand 40%-60% South Africa

Possession: NZ 48%-52% SA

Tackles missed: NZ 24-25 SA

Penalties conceded: NZ 10-10 SA

Turnovers conceded: NZ 13-12 SA

Here’s how things went down in the match between Australia and Argentina earlier today.

Angus Bell scored the winning try six minutes after the final hooter as the Wallabies overturned a 14-point half-time deficit to beat Argentina 28-24 in a Rugby Championship thriller in Townsville.

The Pumas led 21-7 at the break before the Wallabies levelled the score with a brace of tries from centre Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, but Pumas full-back Juan Cruz Mallia edged the visitors ahead with a penalty a minute from time. However, that wasn’t enough…

Two well-taken tries by Emoni Narawa and Will Jordan set up a 14-3 lead at halftime before Quinn Tupaea grabbed a third five-pointer for the hosts 13 minutes from time.

So what’s next in the Rugby Championship?

Round four kicks off in Sydney next weekend where Australia will be gunning for back-to-back victories over Argentina from 5am BST.

And then we’ll have a rematch of this All Blacks-Springboks cracker in Wellington from 8.05am.

More of the same in terms of drama would be ideal.

That victory sends New Zealand back to the top of the Rugby Championship, leapfrogging Australia, who beat Argentina earlier.

The losing bonus point for the Springboks at least sees them climb off the bottom, as they move above Argentina by the narrowest of margins.

Springboks captain Jesse Kriel tells Sky Sport NZ that his side “weren’t up to scratch tonight”.

“We made way too many handling errors and just things that weren’t up to standard for us. But I mean all credit to New Zealand, I thought they were really good.”

What a match that was. The All Blacks deserved winners in the end to climb back atop the Rugby Championship table.