The All Blacks were full value for their win scoring five tries to one as they punished a wasteful home side who made too many errors and were inaccurate in their numerous entries into the visitors’ 22.
It will be a delight for New Zealand coach Dave Rennie, who has now won all four of his games in charge, with this by far the biggest scalp and sweet revenge for the 43-10 defeat in Wellington when the teams last met 12 months ago.
The Springboks lost Marco van Staden and Cobus Reinach to yellow cards as the home side played the final 10 minutes with 13 men in front of 60,592 at Ellis Park.
"We always knew the Springboks were coming and their ball carriers are quality players. When they get a head of steam they are hard to stop," All Blacks captain Ardie Savea said.
"I am really proud of my boys' efforts tonight. It was a boxing match out there and it came down to crucial moments and I thought we held in there when it was tight and got there in the end.
"Well take this win, it is not over, we will move on. They probably broke out line a few times but we dug deep. We will enjoy this tonight."
"All the credit to New Zealand. We will have to pitch up better next week," Springbok captain Pieter-Steph du Toit said. "We made mistakes and were not able to convert our opportunities and shot ourselves in the foot. In a game like us those errors really count against you.
"We will have to go back to the drawing board and see where we went wrong and what we can do better."
New Zealand were positive in their play from the start as they turned down several kickable penalties after falling behind to a Cheslin Kolbe kick off the tee, instead opting for the corner.
They were rewarded when wing Will Jordan literally flopped over the line in the corner after taking a pass as they went through the phases from a five-metre line-out.
The Springboks lost wing Kurt-Lee Arendse to a head injury assessment shortly afterwards, but his replacement Andre Esterhuizen made an immediate impact as he bulldozed through tame tackles from Josh Moorby and Cam Roigard to score.
Kolbe, handed the kicking duties ahead of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, landed the conversion.
New Zealand hit back with some slick play down the left wing that saw Ardie Savea feed Moorby, and the wing slipped the tackle of Pieter-Steph du Toit before coasting in for the try.
The Springboks had the early ascendancy in the scrum and when they won a penalty from the set-piece, Kolbe restored their advantage at 13-12 in a seesaw contest.
Hooker Malcolm Marx dropped the ball over the line as South Africa should have scored a try from a rolling maul, one of several entries into the All Blacks’ 22 that yielded no points through sloppy errors.
South Africa started on the front foot in the second half and won a scrum penalty to allow Kolbe to extend the advantage, but New Zealand hit back immediately.
Springbok scrumhalf Grant Williams took too long with a clearing kick from the base of the ruck following the kick-off, and lock Fabian Holland charged down his effort and collected the ball to score the visitors’ third try.
The Springboks won a succession of penalties in the New Zealand 22 but used the scrum to put pressure on the All Blacks rather than taking a shot at goal to level the scores.
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The home side’s wastefulness continued, though, and when New Zealand won a scrum penalty of their own, they moved downfield and flanker Luke Jacobson crossed after a five-metre scrum.
New Zealand managed the rest of the game superbly with the Springboks down to 13 men and Jordan cantered in for a second try as they were able to claim what will be a famous win.
The next match in the series is in Cape Town next Saturday, before they return to the Highveld for a third match in Soweto and then head to the United States for the series finale in Baltimore.
