Springboks outplayed in Auckland depite second-half comeback

The bonus-point win all but guarantees that New Zealand will win this year's shortened Rugby Championship and leaves the Bok coaches with a number of major selection posers as they look to identify their best 15 ahead of the World Cup.

There will also be question marks over why Saturday's starting side was largely so below-par in terms of their discipline and execution, in stark contrast to last week's showing in Pretoria.

The Boks started the game with a barnstorming run from Jasper Wiese, although a little knock-on at the ruck saw possession turned over - an ominous sign of things to come, as it turned out.

The All Blacks came flying out of the gate and after a relentless period of attack, Will Jordan eventually found the gap through the Bok defence before offloading to Aaron Smith for a well-deserved try, duly converted by Richie Mo'unga.

New Zealand were soon back on the attack after Steven Kitshoff was pinged for bringing down a maul, and when the Boks strayed offside, it was an easy penalty conversion for Mo'unga.

Already 10 points down after 10 minutes, the Springboks desperately needed some possession, but when Cheslin Kolbe knocked on a high ball, it was advantage to the ABs once again.

The misery continued for the Boks as Frans Malherbe gave away the penalty at the scrum to give the All Blacks more attacking ball and they were lucky to not give away any more points when Makazole Mapimpi failed to deal with a high one inside his own 22.

Everything was going right for the All Blacks and they were soon back on the front foot, cutting the Boks open with clever probing kicks behind the defence. When they played it out wide to Shannon Frizell following some more great hands, there was no stopping the big man from going over in the corner.

The horror show continued for the Boks when Damian Willemse went for a quick throw and Wiese knocked it on to hand possession right back to the All Blacks.

Luckily for the men in green and gold, the TMO spotted a high tackle from Ben Whitehouse to give the visitors some much-needed relief, although the ball was quickly turned over again as the Boks were pinged for holding on.

After 20 minutes of punishment, the visitors finally got their first decent bit of possession in All Blacks territory. When Faf de Klerk sent over a crossfield kick in Kolbe's direction, the winger appeared to get his hand on the ball after Beauden Barrett failed to control it, but the TMO saw otherwise.

Hopes that the Boks might have found their rhythm soon evaporated when Damian de Allende knocked on the ensuing goal-line dropout to put the All Blacks back on the attack.

That led to a scrappy period of play as the home side's intensity finally seemed to drop a little bit. A couple of valuable steals from a courageous Kitshoff also helped stall their momentum. When one of those steals handed the Boks a penalty, the South Africans opted to get some points on the board via De Klerk's boot despite still being 17 points adrift.

Whether it was the right decision is highly questionable, as the Boks soon gave away another penalty to allow Mo'unga to reestablish their 17-point lead.

As time ran out in the first half, the South Africans enjoyed a rare period of attack inside the All Blacks' 22, leading to a penalty for a high shot and a kick for the corner.

The Boks threw the kitchen sink at the opposition, but when the referee sent it upstairs to check if Etzebeth had gotten over the line, the TMO instead called a penalty on the Boks for a neck roll from Lood de Jager, bringing to an end one of the worst halves of rugby for the Boks in recent memory.

The second half began much like the first, with Mark Telea winning an aerial battle with Willemse to put the home side back on the front foot. The All Blacks were nearly in again when Jordan broke the line, but a knock-on allowed the Boks to escape.

That brought Malcolm Marx, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Duane Vermeulen and RG Snyman on the field as the Bok coaches finally turned to their bench for a spark.

When the Boks got a penalty in an attacking position and decided to kick for the corner, De Klerk overcooked the kick to allow the All Blacks to escape, once again summing up the visitors' day. Grant Williams soon came on as a replacement to give the starting No 9 a breather.

But the Boks were seeing a lot more of the ball now and they soon had another chance to set up an attacking line-out, and this time something finally went right as they drove the All Blacks back with a powerful rolling maul, allowing Marx to flop over and score as the Boks' forward replacements made an immediate impression. Kolbe took over the goal-kicking duties and made no mistake to bring the Boks back to within 10.

The All Blacks needed a way back into the match and they got it when Smith - one of a starting loose-forward trio that really struggled on the day - gave away a silly penalty to allow Mo'unga to create some more daylight on the scoreboard.

The Bok fightback continued, however, and they were looking far more dangerous now. When they got a chance out wide, a beautiful long pass from Le Roux gave Kolbe the space to dive over in the corner for their second try of the evening as they continued to claw their way back in the match.

But the Boks' discipline continued to let them down, eventually allowing the All Blacks back into dangerous territory. Playing under penalty advantage, Barrett showed the necessary vision to send a crossfield kick over for Jordan, who was there to score his second try as the Bok fightback was sadly snuffed out with 12 minutes to play.

And there was more to come from the All Blacks, as more ill-discipline from the South Africans allowed Mo'unga to score their fourth try and secure the bonus point.

Just before full-time, there was a consolation try for Kwagga Smith, but it was scant consolation indeed as the All Blacks held on for a well-deserved 35-20 victory.