This wasn't just another Springboks-All Blacks Test. This was attritional rugby with consequences.

South Africa's 29-24 victory at a heaving FNB Stadium has given the world champions a 2-1 lead in Rugby's Greatest Rivalry, after four tries apiece and 80 minutes which increasingly looked less like a rugby match and more like a contest to see which side could remain standing.

And here's the important bit: the Boks didn't win by simply overpowering New Zealand everywhere. They won the moments.

The moment the match turned

New Zealand started superbly.

Ardie Savea scored twice as the All Blacks attacked South Africa's defensive edges and punished uncertainty before the Boks could impose their preferred rhythm. But Savea then left with a shoulder injury before half-time.

That mattered enormously.

South Africa had already lost Cheslin Kolbe with a broken jaw, but New Zealand losing Savea removed arguably their most influential collision-and-transition player. The All Blacks have subsequently also lost Quinn Tupaea and Luke Jacobson for Baltimore.

Then came the sequence that tells you everything about Test rugby.

Will Jordan kicked long and dead. Play returned for a scrum. South Africa squeezed a penalty from it, went to the corner and eventually drove Malcolm Marx over.

One inaccurate kick. Scrum. Penalty. Territory. Maul. Seven points.

That's the Springboks. They turn one small mistake into an entire chain of increasingly unpleasant consequences.

New Zealand's problem isn't talent

The All Blacks can hurt South Africa.

They proved that emphatically in the first Test, winning 33-16 at Ellis Park and scoring five tries to one. South Africa responded 33-26 in Cape Town despite being outscored four tries to three. Now, in Soweto, the Boks finally matched New Zealand four tries apiece.

That's the tactical progression of this series.

New Zealand's speed, support lines and ability to attack fractured defensive pictures remain dangerous. Will Jordan needs virtually no invitation.

But South Africa are increasingly controlling what happens after the spectacular stuff.

When the game slows, when exits matter, when a scrum follows an error and when the contest becomes a succession of ugly five-metre decisions, the Boks appear more comfortable.

That's not glamorous. It's championship rugby.

And then there were the kickers…

This one contained another brutal lesson.

After Kolbe departed, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu stepped in and contributed seven points from the tee. At the other end, Ruben Love left seven of nine available kicking points behind. In a five-point Test match, you don't require a calculator to understand the significance.

Baltimore therefore becomes fascinating.

South Africa cannot call on Kolbe. New Zealand travel without Savea, Tupaea and Jacobson. And although the Boks cannot now lose the series, an All Blacks victory would produce a 2-2 draw — appropriately leaving each country with one half of the specially designed Rivalry Trophy.

So what's the GameDayBuzz call?

South Africa, narrowly. Again.

Something around Boks by 1-7 feels the percentage play.

But watch the opening 20 minutes. If New Zealand can increase tempo, avoid giving South Africa cheap set-piece entries and build a two-score lead, Baltimore could become uncomfortable.

If they're still within one score entering the final quarter?

That's Springbok territory.

And right now, you'd rather be wearing green there than black.