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The Springboks have won the Rugby's Greatest Rivalry series 3-1, ending it with a decisive 43-28 victory over the All Blacks in the United States.
The series result showed that South Africa deserve their No 1 ranking, despite a brave but error-ridden attempt by the New Zealand side to match them.
The South Africans were superior again in the final test in Baltimore on Sunday morning (NZ time) including at the scrum, the lineout and breakdown, where they again burgled turnovers to frustrate the All Blacks.
While the Kiwis were again game and competitive, they were clearly second best on the day.
After British Open champion Ryan Fox carried the New Zealand flag and stood by the All Blacks for the anthem, the South Africans took an early lead with a penalty in the third minute when a Tupou Vaa'i tackle was judged to be too high by English referee Karl Dickson.
But when they settled down, the All Blacks' attacking intent was clear and they were rewarded in the eighth minute when captain Codie Taylor charged over, after some slick passing from the backs and forwards rattled the Springboks defence. Damian McKenzie converted.
But the Boks came back as the New Zealanders made some errors at set pieces and had trouble with ball handling in humid conditions.
Damian de Allende barged over from close range as sustained pressure created a hole in the Kiwi defence.
There was a 10-minute delay when, embarrassingly in a game promoting the code to Americans, the referee lost communication with the Television Match Official. Play resumed after the two captains agreed that there would not be TMO involvement unless there was foul play, in which case a phone call would be made.
But the TMO was back in play in the second half, after All Blacks halfback Cam Roigard was taken out after kicking the ball through to the Springboks line. A penalty seemed inevitable, but the TMO went back further to find that Roigard was offside at the preceding ruck and the potential penalty was reversed.
Back in the first half, the All Blacks were unlucky when one promising movement was stymied, with the referee penalising them for an earlier infringement, with replays showing the decision was a questionable one.
Seconds later, halfback Morne van den Berg surged through another hole in the All Blacks goal-line defence.
The Springboks dominated the second quarter, controlling possession and keeping the All Blacks pinned for the most part in their own half. Not helping the tourists was their missed tackles.
But the All Blacks hit back late in the half, attacking the South African line with an incredible 32 phases, before Will Jordan surged through a few holes to score.
It was 17-14 to the Boks at halftime, and the All Blacks had to make an early impact.
But it was South Africa who put on a two-try hit within four minutes. Hooker Malcolm Marx charged over in the 48th minute after All Blacks prop Ethan de Groot was penalised at a scrum and they were over again with Piet-Steph Toit scoring.
Ethan Blackadder put the Kiwis back in the game to narrow the score to 29-21, but the team couldn't finish off some promising breaks.
There was a huge controversy late in the match when Kurt-Lee Arendsee bolted away from the defence for a try, with the All Blacks claiming Josh Moorby was impeded early when trying to take a pass from Damian McKenzie. The referee ruled that the contact was simultaneous.
There was a late exchange of tries with Cameron Hanekom scoring for the Boks, and replacement All Black Beauden Barrett showing a bit of class, touching down in the final minute.
