New Zealand beat South Africa to end three-match losing streak

New Zealand lost a 15-point lead and then produced two tries in the last six minutes to come from behind and beat South Africa 35-23 in the Rugby Championship – and potentially save coach Ian Foster’s job.

New Zealand’s victory was unexpected and gutsy, and it ended a run of three straight losses – and five losses in the All Blacks’ last six Tests – that put Foster on the brink of being fired and rugby’s most successful team under immense scrutiny.

Foster still said he had “no idea” if the win was enough for him to stay as coach.

“I am just going to enjoy tonight,” he said.

The All Blacks had promised this week that they would give everything against the world champions at Ellis Park – one of the toughest places to play – to end that losing run. They were true to their word as they dug deep in the dying minutes after seeing an early 15-0 lead wiped out and the Springboks go ahead by two points at 23-21.

New Zealand launched a length-of-the-field attack, finished off by centre David Havili, to snatch the lead back in the 74th minute while down to 14 men with replacement Beauden Barrett’s yellow card. The All Blacks added another try right at the end through a close-range drive by lock Scott Barrett to secure a deserved win that might have eased the pressure on Foster.

“It has never been a question of how much we care or how much we want it, we just needed to get a few parts of our game right,” New Zealand captain Sam Cane said. “It was a massive challenge coming here … and the group stepped up massively, so hugely proud.

“A massive thank you to everyone who has been supporting us, particularly through the last month which has been pretty challenging.”

Cane and hooker Samisoni Taukei’aho scored tries in the first half as