All Blacks outlast Springboks at Eden Park to protect hallowed ground

They say records are there to be broken, but not at Eden Park.

Scott Robertson’s All Blacks have extended their run of 50 matches unbeaten at Eden Park to 51, beating the Springboks 24-17 at Eden Park.

Who else, but Ardie Savea. The 100-Test All Black in the most important moment of the match, got himself over the ball to win a clutch penalty in the 79th minute.

A sold-out Eden Park in Auckland played host to arguably the biggest Test match in the whole of 2025, between the back-to-back World Champions and Scott Robertson’s All Blacks.

It didn’t take long for the two teams to showcase how physical this Test match was going to be, with some brutal carries in the opening couple of minutes.

A knock on by Jesse Kriel in midfield gave the All Blacks the first opportunity of the game, as Billy Proctor scooped up the ball and kicked it ahead.

Cheslin Kolbe tracked back and managed to clear, giving the All Blacks a lineout inside the Springboks’ 22. The home side’s lineout was taken successfully, before a Beauden Barrett cross-field kick went straight into Emoni Narawa’s hands.

Narawa got up with the ball in hand, threw a dummy, and went over in the corner to give the All Blacks the lead after just two minutes. Jordie Barrett made no mistake with the conversion, extending the lead to 7-0.

It might have been a fantastic start for Narawa at Eden Park, but the try was basically his last action of the game, limping off after just six minutes.

An offside penalty that went the All Blacks’ way gifted Barrett an opportunity at three points from about 35 meters, but his attempt sailed wide.

In classic Rassie Erasmus fashion, the Springboks tried a midfield lineout move after just twelve minutes, but Tupou Vaa’i sniffed out the danger almost immediately.

After a couple of Finlay Christie box kicks, Beauden Barrett picked up the ball and out of absolutely nowhere, found the grass with an inch-perfect left-footed touch finder, securing a 50/22 for his side.

Codie Taylor’s lineout went over the back, but Wallace Sititi brought it down and fired a perfectly timed inside ball to Will Jordan, who broke through the line to go in under the posts.

Replacement playmaker Damian McKenzie took over the kicking duties, making no mistake from right out in front, to take the All Blacks’ lead to 14-0 after 17 minutes.

It took 21 minutes for referee Karl Dickson to blow a scrum penalty, which went the way of the Springboks just outside the All Blacks’ 22. Handre Pollard’s kick sailed straight down the middle. 14-3 to the All Blacks.

Another escort penalty was awarded to the Springboks as an All Blacks player was deemed to have impeded a South African kick chaser, but Pollard’s attempt from just under 40 meters went just wide.

There were little to no opportunities for either team in the final 15 minutes of the first half, with both teams choosing to go to the box kick over stringing together a consistent number of phases.

HT: 14-3 to the All Blacks.

Beauden Barrett’s kick-off got the second 40 minutes underway at Eden Park, before a Willie Le Roux cut out pass put Kolbe through down the right hand touchline.

The Springboks won back the ball on the back of some messy lineout work from the All Blacks, but Rieko Ioane got underneath the ball to hold it up over the line.

Pieter-Steph du-Toit was deemed to have infringed at a ruck just outside the Springboks’ 22, and McKenzie’s kick gave the All Blacks the first points of the second half, extending the lead to 17-3.

The All Blacks defence held strong over the next ten minutes, as they were forced to make a number of tackles by the Springboks forwards.

The Springboks gifted the All Blacks a scrum inside their 22 when a pass drifted forward in midfield, but the resulting New Zealand scrum was completely dominated by the Springboks.

Springboks hooker Malcom Marx was too big, too strong as he barged his way over the line to score the away side’s first try of the match. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu added the extras from in front, closing the margin to seven with under 20 minutes to go.

Another unforced error by the Springboks as they were trying to exit put more pressure on their defence, as a Springboks player was in an offside position.

The All Blacks could have gone for the three to extend the margin to more than a converted try, but trusted their lineout execution close to the line.

After countless phases in front of the Springboks line, Christie shifted it to the right, before Barrett found replacement midfielder Quinn Tupaea in space.

Tupaea punched through a hole in the Springboks defence to score what seemed like the icing on the cake for the All Blacks at Eden Park.

An inch perfect kick from Feinberg-Mngomezulu forced the All Blacks to give up a 5-meter scrum, which the Springboks took advantage of through replacement halfback Cobus Reinach.

Reinach was in a world of space on the left hand edge, brushing off a couple of tackles to give the Springboks a lifeline with under ten minutes to go.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu remained perfect off the boot, closing the gap to 24-17 to set up a grandstand finish.

The final minutes of the match was as tense as Test rugby gets, but in the end, the All Blacks held on to keep the Eden Park unbeaten record in-tact.

FT: 24-17 to the All Blacks.

The All Blacks and Springboks will now travel to Wellington for another Rugby Championship Test match next Saturday.