In a nail-biting Rugby Championship match at Ellis Park tonight, the Springboks pulled off one of the all-time great late comebacks to beat the All Blacks 31-27. It was one of those games that will be spoken about for years to come.

The Springboks also made history by triumphing against the All Blacks for the first time after winning the World Cup. 

In 1995 the Boks lost 15-11 to the All Blacks in Christchurch, and again in 1996, 2008 and 2021, as News24 reports. 

Plus they did it at an iconic venue to boot: Ellis Park Stadium. 

The Stadium, located in Johannesburg’s dense and ramshackle CBD, was the spot where the historic 1995 World Cup final took place. With SA’s first democratic president Nelson Mandela, in the stands, the boys in green and gold were tasked with uniting the nation following our return to international rugby after apartheid. 

Nearly three decades later they did it again – as has become their wont. In an otherwise troubled nation, the Boks seem to repeatedly provide the glue that binds our fractious hearts. The crowd were electric during the early match festivities, bursting into applause in time with the fireworks that lit up the darkening sky, and singing their hearts out to the national anthem. (Sadly, we didn’t do quite as well in showing the All Blacks respect when they performed their famous Haka, with Sister Bettina playing over the end rather inappropriately, along with some pyrotechnics.)

Joburg, it seemed, was ready to break its Boks vs All Blacks post-World Cup dry spell. 

But the venue was also a little jinxed. Before tonight, the Boks had failed to beat the All Blacks at Ellis Park for a decade. Their last win against their famed and biggest competitor was back in 2014.

Saturday night’s Bok win was, therefore, history-making – and they’ll have a chance to do it again in a week’s time in Cape Town as part of the local leg of The Rugby Championship. The Championship is an annual showdown between the four superpowers of rugby in the Southern Hemisphere: Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina. (It was previously called the Tri Nations before the addition of Argentina). 

Still, the match was incredibly close, and all that history clearly weighed on the Boks, who had a rocky start.

A focused All Blacks took an early lead. 

At halftime, New Zealand was in the lead with one point: 12 to 11. This was an ominous inversion of the score we beat the same team with just nine months previously in the Rugby World Cup final. The tension among the 60,000+ crowd was palpable. In total, the Boks conceded four tries.

The pummeling continued in the second half. Only in the final few minutes could the home crowd start breathing a little easier. 

The All Blacks looked like they had the game in the bag, leading 27-17 with just over 12 minutes left on the clock. But the Springboks weren’t ready to give up. With their trademark grit and the roaring support of the Ellis Park faithful, they turned the game on its head. The Boks’ driving maul, always a weapon in their arsenal, was crucial in this comeback, applying relentless pressure that the All Blacks just couldn’t handle.

As the clock ticked down, South Africa capitalised on the momentum, with Bongi Mbonambi and Kwagga Smith diving over for tries that had the crowd erupting. Then, in the final moments, Grant Williams crossed the line to snatch the victory. The fantastic flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu also played a key role, racking up 16 points with his pinpoint kicking.

It was the kind of match that reminds you why rugby is so thrilling. The Springboks showed once again that they’re a team that never quits, finding a way to win even when the odds are against them. The Ellis Park fans certainly went home happy after witnessing another victory against our rugby arch rivals.