Late try from Herschel Jantjies help South Africa to 16-16 draw against New Zealand

New Zealand 16-16 South Africa, Westpac Stadium
Scorecard

Herschel Jantjies scored the decisive try in the closing stage while Handre Pollard kicked the conversion as South Africa managed a 16-16 draw against New Zealand in the second round of the Rugby Championship at Westpac Stadium.

The result means South Africa are at the top of the table with seven points while New Zealand are at second with six points. The final round of the tournament will see the Springboks taking on Argentina while Australia and New Zealand will lock horns on 10th August.

The opening 10 minutes saw Pollard kick back to back penalties to get the visitors off to a six-point lead though Beauden Barrett had a chance to reduce the arrears but missed a straightforward chance.

The Boks looked in dominance and were also presented with another chance but they failed to translate into points. A knock-on from South Africa in midfield costed them dearly as Beauden made a neat pass to Jack Goodhue as he dotted down in the 37th minute with the fullback also kicking the conversion to take the scoreline to 7-6 at the end of the first half.

Steve Hansen's men further extended the lead to 10-6 with Barrett's penalty goal at the start of the second half though he missed a second penalty allowing South Africa to be in the game.

New Zealand suffered a huge setback with Brodie Rettalick leaving the field with a shoulder injury and Pollard kicked a penalty goal at the start of the third quarter to reduce the gap to just one point.

Richie Mo'unga provided New Zealand with a sigh of relief with penalties in the 67th and 74th minutes making the scoreline 16-9 but in a nervous closing stage of the game Cheslin Kolbe raced down and chipped to Jantjies as he dotted down in the 80th minute to take the Boks to a two point deficit which was closed by a conversion from Pollard ending the game in a draw.