It took a special intervention from the man himself with two minutes remaining and then the final whistle for the Ardie party to really get going at Eden Park.
Until then this 24-17 victory for the All Blacks at their fortress appeared relatively comfortable and underlined by accuracy, execution, and, dare we say it, a little more intelligence and ambition compared with their world champion opponents.
As the rain came down, however, and the Boks threw themselves at the All Blacks in the second half with a ferocious desperation, the game was nearly turned on its head.
Who else but Ardie Savea, a man, significantly, described by skipper Scott Barrett afterwards as the “spiritual leader” of the All Blacks, to get the penalty turnover which all but made the game safe.
“Every win is special in the All Black jersey but that one in particular, eh… there was a lot riding on that game,” Savea said afterwards. “It means a lot. I’m really grateful to get the win with the brothers. We worked really hard for this one.”
Under pressure after a poor performance in a defeat to Argentina in Buenos Aries last time out and with their remarkable Eden Park record at stake, the All Blacks had appeared to be cruising at 17-3 up with about 30 minutes remaining.
Back came the world champions, though, via a game based almost solely on defensive pressure and a vastly improved scrum, the visitors edging their way back with a strategy not too dissimilar to a death by a thousand cuts.
All the momentum was behind them when Savea spotted flanker Marco van Staden carrying the ball towards him five metres from the All Blacks’ tryline and he pounced.
“I need to stop waiting until the 78th minute to get a turnover,” Savea joked. “I need to get stuck into it more. We talk about needing to be where your mate needs you to be and you … dream of those moments.”
Replacement second-five Quinn Tupaea, who scored his team’s only try of the second half, had a good view of Savea’s steal.
“He’s one of the biggest players in our team and big players step up like that,” Tupaea said. “It was a matter of time for him, really… it was a massive play for him.
“I was right next to him and I think I was the first to get there and celebrate with him. A pretty cool moment.”
Head coach Scott Robertson: “I was just so pleased. It epitomised who he is. He’s a person who makes big plays and it just sums him up perfectly. It was his moment on the 100th.”
Afterwards, as Savea spoke to the assembled media in his special silver cap, he was asked about the pressure of defending a 31-year unbeaten record at the team's fortress.
“Keep bringing the pressure,” he replied with a smile. “You guys do a great job building that pressure. As a player you thrive on that and it makes you want to do better. That’s what the people of this nation deserve and that’s what is expected of us as All Blacks.
“For me I love it. It gets the knots in the gut going and makes me want to perform.”
Robertson, who hardly sat down during the second half such were his nerves, praised his vice-captain’s mental and physical toughness: “His ability to go from 7 to 8 and carry the ball and hunt for the ball. The tackles. [To] jump in the lineout. His overall performance probably reflected the 100 games.”
Skipper Barrett said: “He’s the spiritual leader within our team. We wanted to make that [milestone] special. Off the back of the Argentina week and week at home there was certainly a lot of self reflection.
“We fronted up from day one when we rejoined in Auckland… the performance reflected that and we need to go again next week.”
While Robertson said the weather conditions and the South Africans’ desperation in front of a crowd of 48,000, a good many wearing green and gold, turned the game “into a bit of a scrap”, “we were locked in.
“We were really clear," he said. "We didn’t want to waste the lesson from Argentina. It hurt us that performance and the care wasn’t high enough. The preparation wasn’t good enough. The preparation this week was where it needed to be.”
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