JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa imposed its forward power on New Zealand and won a pulsating third test 29-24 to snatch a 2-1 lead in their historic rugby series on Saturday.
The comeback from losing the first test ensured the Springboks cannot lose the series. They have a chance next Saturday in the fourth and final match in Baltimore to clinch their first series victory over the All Blacks since 1976.
The Springboks muscled up in the set-pieces to prevail. The scrum earned a penalty try to level at halftime 12-12 and when they led for the first time an hour in, they secured the win with a magnificent, crabbing lineout maul from which Malcolm Marx dived between the posts and thumped the ground in joy.
“We're so proud of the win today,” South Africa captain Siya Kolisi said, “but it was a great game from the All Blacks. They pushed us to the limit.”
For the first time in the series, they matched New Zealand for tries — four each — and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu replaced injured goalkicker Cheslin Kolbe to slot seven points.
Crucially, counterpart Ruben Love missed seven out of nine points off the tee. Also, New Zealand captain Ardie Savea was lost to injury after 30 minutes, costing the All Blacks their leading physical presence.
They can still rescue a series draw against the pre-tour odds next weekend but the inspirational Savea won't travel to Baltimore, “gutted” New Zealand coach Dave Rennie said.
They rued careless errors that gave hope back to South Africa after they led 17-12.
A missed tackle by Leroy Carter allowed South Africa's Jesse Kriel to stroll in untouched. The host's two-point lead then became nine with 14 minutes to go. A kick over the deadball line led to the maul and Marx try that energized the Boks in front of their biggest crowd of the tour: 85,976.
“We just couldn't get our game going for long enough to hurt them,” Rennie said. “When we hit the lead (in the second half) we gave up a soft try. To be fair, they dominated the next 15 minutes.”
In a breathless end-to-end first half, wrecking ball hooker Asafo Aumua, danger winger Will Jordan and Savea spearheaded New Zealand's best start in the series.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu was fortunate to concede only a yellow card and not a penalty try for a deliberate knockdown in the same New Zealand attack that forced off Kolbe with a head knock.
Moments later, Aumua set up Savea's 34th test try that made him the forward with the most in men’s internationals.
Prop Ox Nché and winger Ethan Hooker were carrying South Africa, which held out with 14 men and managed to score when Damian de Allende brushed off Carter and gave other winger Kurt-Lee Arendse an overlap try.
Savea’s second try featured a big sidestep by lock Tupou Vaa'i in his 50th test and Savea’s skip pass to Carter. Feinberg-Mngomezulu played the ball out of the ruck and Savea scooped it up on the run to score.
Five minutes later, Savea was leaving with a suspected shoulder injury. That brought in Wallace Sititi, whose sister Amarante also came off the bench and scored in the New Zealand women's 52-20 win over South Africa in the curtain-raiser.
New Zealand spent the last 10 minutes under siege and Love was yellow-carded. The South Africa scrum, already menacing, earned the penalty try for 12-12 when a pushover attempt was interfered with.
But with new props, New Zealand got a scrum penalty for what referee Nika Amashukeli said was South Africa walking around. It was the first time in the series the Springboks were called out for it. Scrums have been a flash point and South Africa has denied walking around. The 52-meter penalty kick was missed by Love.
Love also missed converting a try by Jordan, whose chip was collected by Carter, who popped up for the trailing Jordan to grab his 54th try.
At that point, South Africa replaced stalwarts Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth and Nché and New Zealand got careless.
See AP’s full rugby coverage here
New Zealand's captain Ardie Savea, front, breaks away from South Africa's captain Siya Kolisi, to score a try during a third international test rugby match between South Africa and New Zealand, in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
New Zealand's Luke Jacobson, right, is tackled by South Africa's Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, left, and his teammate Pieter-Steph du Toit, during a third international test rugby match between South Africa and New Zealand, in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Russian President Vladimir Putin met with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner at the Kremlin on Saturday for talks to try to revive a stalled push to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
The envoys’ visit came as both sides escalated aerial attacks. Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy both agreed to pause strikes on each other’s capitals while the talks took place.
Washington’s push to end the fighting has lost momentum as U.S. attention has been focused for the past six months on the Iran war. The last known visit to Moscow by Witkoff and Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, was in January, when they also held talks with Putin at the Kremlin.
Both U.S. envoys will also visit Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, for the first time in the peace process on Sunday, Ukrainian officials said.
At the start of the meeting in Moscow, Putin asked Kushner and Witkoff to pass on his warm wishes and gratitude to Trump, and described the situation in Ukraine as “not simple.” Russian forces launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
"(Russian President Vladimir) Putin has ordered that no strikes be carried out against Kyiv for three days, starting at midnight today,” presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russia’s Tass news agency.
Zelenskyy said that Ukraine was prepared to halt strikes on Moscow until Monday. He said he spoke on Saturday afternoon with the U.S. delegation after their arrival in Moscow.
"From now through the end of Saturday, as well as on Sunday and Monday, Ukraine is ready to refrain from strikes on Moscow, and we expect the Russians to do the same regarding Kyiv," he said.
The U.S. envoys were met at the airport in Moscow by Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, Tass reported. Dmitriev shared photos of him meeting with the U.S. delegation as they disembarked, alongside the caption, “Welcome to Moscow Peacemakers.”
With peace efforts stalled, Russia has intensified its attacks on Kyiv and other cities with relentless bombardments stretching into daylight hours, taking advantage of Ukraine’s shortage of air defense systems.
On Friday, a Russian drone hit one of the most important government buildings in Kyiv — the headquarters of Ukraine’s Security Service, known as the SBU, which is one of the agencies involved in carrying out deep-strike operations inside Russia.
The long-range strikes by Ukraine have hit Russian military facilities, oil refineries and e-commerce hubs, seeking to undermine the Kremlin’s war effort and economy, as well as make ordinary citizens feel the consequences of the war.
The air war between Russia and Ukraine has intensified as troops have struggled to make progress along the 1,250-kilometer (775-mile) front line. Russia has recently been using fast-flying, jet-powered drones, and the recurring wail of air-raid sirens has become part of daily life in Kyiv.
In a social media post on Saturday, Zelenskyy said that Russia had carried out overnight strikes on Kyiv and Boryspil international airports, and linked the attack to the planned U.S. visit.
“Clearly, these Russian strikes on the airports are a reaction to the discussions and preparations for the possibility of the U.S. side using an aircraft to travel to Ukraine,” he said.
“We have taken note of this Russian move, and next week we will adjust our operation accordingly regarding Russian airspace, which has become dangerous because of our drones and missiles in the sky. Of course, there are and will be no threats to diplomacy from our side.”
Russian attacks killed five people and wounded five others at an industrial facility in Ukraine’s southern Dnipropetrovsk region, local military administration head Oleksandr Hanzha said. He described those killed as employees at the site.
“A locksmith, an electrician, a plumber and a machinist. People of peaceful professions. They were simply working their shift. They were doing their job when enemy missiles cut off their lives,” he said.
A 62-year-old man was wounded, and several homes and an apartment building were damaged, in a separate attack on the region’s Nikopol district, Hanzha said.
In a statement on Saturday, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said that it had carried out strikes on two metallurgical plants in the region, describing them as “major suppliers of metal products for Ukraine’s military production.”
A further two people were wounded in an overnight Russian attack on Ukraine’s Kyiv region, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the regional military administration. In the Boryspil district, a fire sparked by a strike partially destroyed a nine-story residential building.
Russian forces also repeatedly struck a shopping center in the southern Mykolaiv region with drones overnight, damaging retail premises and sparking fires, Ukraine’s state emergency services said. A 72-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl were wounded.
Emergency crews responding to the attack were repeatedly forced to withdraw to safety because of the threat of further strikes, returning whenever conditions allowed, the emergency services said.
Russia launched ballistic missiles from its Rostov and Voronezh regions and deployed 167 attack drones overnight, Ukraine’s air force said. The drones included Shahed-type aircraft — around half of them jet-powered — as well as Geran and decoy drones. Ukrainian air defenses shot down or suppressed 128 drones, according to the air force.
Elsewhere, Ukrainian attacks wounded three people, including a 14-year-old girl, in Russia’s border region of Belgorod, local officials said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said in statement that its forces had shot down 53 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
U.S. President Donald Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff, right, Jared Kushner, center, and Russian Presidential Envoy Kirill Dmitriev stand prior to the talks at the Senate Palace of the Kremlin, in Moscow, on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026. (Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, greets U.S. President Donald Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff, second left, and Jared Kushner prior to the talks at the Senate Palace of the Kremlin, in Moscow, on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026. (Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
A local resident wears a gas mask as he rides a bicycle past a partially destroyed warehouse after a Russian drone attack in Brovary on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Sept. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
