New Zealand scored four tries to South Africa's three in Cape Town, but Cheslin Kolbe's four penalties supplied the decisive difference in a 33-26 Springbok win.
The Springboks levelled their four-Test series against New Zealand with a 33-26 win in Cape Town on Saturday, even though the All Blacks scored four tries to South Africa’s three.
That apparent contradiction is explained by the scorecard. South Africa’s three tries were worth 15 points. Cheslin Kolbe converted all three for another six and kicked four penalties for 12 more. Together, 15 plus six plus 12 produced the winning total of 33.
New Zealand’s four tries supplied 20 points, while Ruben Love converted three of them for six. That left the visitors on 26. In other words, the Springboks’ 12 penalty points were the decisive category in a match in which New Zealand held a five-point advantage from tries alone.
The final score is confirmed by SA Rugby, SuperSport and the All Blacks’ official match report. SuperSport’s scorer list resolves an inconsistency in an early source summary by recording four, not three, Kolbe penalties.
South Africa did not wait long to make its first entry count. Jesse Kriel scored in the second minute after the Springboks advanced from the opening lineout. New Zealand answered through Cam Roigard, but Kolbe then accepted a kick at goal when South Africa won a penalty in range.
That choice mattered because the match later became a one-score contest. A penalty goal can look modest beside a try, but it banked three points without requiring another lineout, maul or attacking phase to succeed.
Damian de Allende added South Africa’s second try before New Zealand fullback Damian McKenzie crossed in reply. Siya Kolisi’s try, following pressure from a five-metre scrum, sent the Springboks into half-time 24-14 ahead.
The half-time arithmetic already showed the pattern: South Africa had converted each of its three tries and added one penalty. The All Blacks had two converted tries but no penalty points.
Two more Kolbe penalties stretched the lead to 30-14. That 16-point margin meant New Zealand needed more than two converted tries to move ahead, giving South Africa protection against the comeback that followed.
The All Blacks then found the attacking rewards they had been seeking. Leroy Carter scored to cut the deficit, but Kolbe’s fourth penalty took South Africa to 33. Ardie Savea’s late try, converted by Love, narrowed the result to seven points.
New Zealand therefore finished with the higher try count, but its late surge did not erase the points South Africa had accumulated from penalties. The lesson is not that tries were unimportant: three Springbok tries created most of the winning total. It is that goal-kicking converted infringements into a buffer large enough to survive two second-half tries.
The win answers the immediate series question created by South Africa’s 33-16 defeat in Johannesburg: after two Tests, the teams are level at one victory each.
It does not establish that either side has solved the rest of the series. South Africa led 30-14 but still faced a late New Zealand surge, while the All Blacks’ four tries did not produce enough points to win. Both facts can be true at once.
For the Springboks, the scorecard records a more efficient response than the first Test: three converted tries, four successful penalty goals and enough defensive resistance at the end. For New Zealand, four tries and a seven-point losing margin show how close the contest became — and how costly it was to finish without any penalty points.
The 33-26 result was decided not by the try count alone, but by the full collection of scoring opportunities. That is the clearest way to read a match in which the side with fewer tries still finished seven points ahead.
Follow the story
