Johannesburg - Replacement flyhalf Pat Lambie landed a 52-metre penalty with a minute to go as South Africa ended New Zealand's 22-game unbeaten run with a 27-25 victory in their final Rugby Championship clash on Saturday.
Lambie was on for the 20-year-old rookie flyhalf Handre Pollard who had earlier crossed for two tries, and added three conversions and a penalty at Ellis Park as the Boks became the first team to defeat the world champion All Blacks since England in late 2012.
Scrumhalf Francois Hougaard scored the home side's other try as their desire to play a more expansive game with ball in hand paid dividends.
New Zealand, who had already won the title, scored tries from centre Malakai Fekitoa, wing Ben Smith and hooker Dane Coles, with flyhalf Beauden Barrett adding a further 10 points with the boot.
They may have cause for complaint, and perhaps another reason to gripe at English referee Wayne Barnes, as Lambie's winning kick was only awarded after big screens at the venue showed replay of an incident in back-play.
As everybody paused for breath, the replay showed All Black flank Liam Messam not using his arms in a high hit on Schalk Burger and, after some persuasion, Barnes consulted the TMO who awarded the penalty in South Africa's own half.
Lambie, not renowned as consistent goal-kicker, kept his cool to easily find the distance, and the accuracy, to edge the Boks into two-point lead.
After Barrett had kicked an early penalty for All Blacks, the Boks scored a try from their own 22 as they ran the ball out, centre Jean de Villiers provided a grubber for wing Cornal Hendricks to run onto and Hougaard finished under the posts.
The lead was extended to 14-6 as Pollard got his first try as he slipped between two defenders to score and convert.
New Zealand brought themselves back to within one as Fekitoa dotted down between the uprights.
Pollard got his second score as his eel-like running again eluded defenders from a five-metre scrum and South Africa led 21-13 at the break.
Pollard extended that lead by another three with a penalty, but the All Blacks turned up the pressure in the final half-hour and Smith crossed the tryline out wide with 15 minutes remaining, Barrett's conversion cutting the lead to four.
New Zealand hit the front on 70 minutes as the Boks lost a line-out in their own 22 and after extended pressure replacement hooker Coles scored in the corner. This time Barrett missed the conversion and the world champions led by one.
That was until South African pressure led to the mistake from Messam that, eventually, allowed Lambie to put the home side into a lead they would not relinquish. – Reuters