It is a split series, of course, with New Zealand victorious last week, but that is enough for holders South Africa to hold on to the Freedom Cup – which Siya Kolisi lifts alongside the rest of the Springboks squad after a statement performance.

“I’d like to thank all the South Africans who came to support us, from all over the world,” Kolisi says. “You didn’t give up on us last week, you came through this weekend. I want to give credit to my boys, we didn’t give up, and to the coach as well – everyone was talking about a young team, but how do you get young guys experience? you give them opportunities.

“We played fearlessly. We believed in ourselves, which was the most important thing out there. All we wanted was a win, and we are happy that we got that. We are able to fight for the Rugby Championship – that is all that matters to us. The people in Wellington and Auckland have been amazing.”

“That’s a tough one to swallow. The Springboks certainly showed up and made a real improvement from last week, and we certainmly didn’t adjust. Well done to Siya and his team.

“Our scrum was under pressure,.We had limited opportunities and the ‘Boks really took theirs.

“The fans over the past two weeks have been amazing. We are gutted we couldn’t quite the job done tonight. It’s not all bad, we’ll celebrate Leroy (Carter’s) debut. We’ll have a bit of space, there are a lot of areas where we can get better, but it starts individually. Each member of this group is hungry to get better.”

33 points is the biggest ever defeat in All Blacks history – a humiliating, troubling night for Scott Robertson and his side.

“Rassie has been taking a lot of shots and backing us as a team. We knew it was going to come. Credit to the boys – they stepped up and played a great game of rugby.

“We had a very positive mindest. We knew exactly what went wrong at Eden Park. Tonight, we were much more clinical. Credit to the coaching staff to sticking up and helping us.

“There was opportunity for both sides. We just took our opportunities and put scoreboard pressure on them. We put everything into this.”

Bloodied face, weary legs but the smile on Andre Esterhuizen’s face spans back to South Africa! This has been a quite remarkable half of rugby from the world champions, the Springboks totally tearing New Zealand to shreds on home soil. It’s another beaut of a score, Damian Willemse and Grant Williams again at the heart of things having thrived in new roles at full-back and on the wing after that earlier injury bother. Wow. Wow!

That sums up New Zealand’s night – Will Jordan, the arch finisher, has failed to convert what seemed a certain score. Full credit to Grant Williams, covering in quite outstanding fashion to snare Jordan at the ankles, but the wing can still reach for the line…only to fumble as he goes to ground. A real rarity.

It’s a dismantling! RG Snyman strides to the line untouched as the Springboks pile up the points.

Wow. How do you miss a man the size of Snyman? There are blocks of flats that are smaller in stature than the lock but that does not stop the All Blacks defence from completely missing him as he arrives at the line, three of his giant strides seemingly all that he needs to cover the requisite 15 metres to score.

We are into record territory now – New Zealand’s biggest defeat at home is by a margin of 15 points.