The last time the Springboks beat the All Blacks in South Africa

Under-fire All Blacks head coach Ian Foster will be looking to defend an impressive away record against Springboks.

New Zealand suffered a home series defeat to Ireland, a first in the professional era, but head to South Africa for their Rugby Championship opener, looking to extend their 8-year winning run in the Republic.

The last time South Africa managed a home win over New Zealand was back in 2014, when Pat Lambie slotted a late penalty to secure a 27-25 win over the All Blacks.

Since then, New Zealand has won four games on the trot in South Africa, defeating Heyneke Meyer's Boks 20-27 at Ellis Park in 2015 before thrashing Allister Coetzee's Springboks 15-57 in Durban in 2016.

In 2017, Steven Hansen's All Blacks defeated the Springboks 24-25 just three weeks after thrashing South Africa 57-0 in Auckland.

Even when Rassie Erasmus turned South Africa's fortunes around, the Springboks fell to a narrow 30-32 defeat at Loftus. That result came after their 34-36 win in Wellington. 

The win at Ellis Park in 2014 was a special one for the Springboks, who ended a three-year losing streak against the All Blacks and their first win over their fiercest rivals at Ellis Park in ten years.

The Boks were first to cross the whitewash with a sensational length-of-the-field try scored by Francois Hougaard, which would go on to be named the Try of the Year for 2014.

A young Handre Pollard, playing just his sixth test and second against New Zealand, scored the second try of the match in 28th minute to put the Springboks even further ahead.

Beauden Barrett set Malakai Fekitoa for a superb try, but it was Pollard who would have the final say of the half, beating his opposite number and twisting through McCaw's tackle to give the Boks an eight-point lead at the break.

Tries from Ben Smith and Dane Coles set up a tense finish with the scores at 24-25 and twelve minutes on the clock.

Pat Lambie came off the bench and tried a drop goal with four minutes remaining, but that sailed wide.

However, he stepped up in the final moments to seal the victory with a match-winning penalty from inside his own half after Liam Messam's high tackle on Schalk Burger.

The lineups on the day

South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Jan Serfontein, 12 Jean de Villiers (c), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handrè Pollard, 9 Francois Hougaard; 1 Tendai Mtawarira, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 5 Victor Matfield, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 7 Tebo Mohoje, 8 Duane Vermeulen.

Replacements: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 Bakkies Botha, 20 Schalk Burger, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 JP Pietersen.

New Zealand: 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Ben Smith, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Malakai Fekitoa, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith; 1 Joe Moody, 2 Keven Mealamu, 3 Owen Franks, 4 Jeremy Thrush, 5 Sam Whitelock, 6 Jerome Kaino, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 8 Kieran Read.

Replacements: 16 Dane Coles, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Steven Luatua, 20 Liam Messam, 21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22 Colin Slade, 23 Ryan Crotty.