The Springboks were not overawed by the imposing All Blacks in front of a passionate capacity Wellington crowd. They were simply amazing.
They threw the form book out of the window to hand New Zealand their first defeat in the Rugby Championship since they were beaten 27-19 by Australia in 2015 with a spirited performance that coach Rassie Erasmus described as one of the best by SA.
Captain Siya Kolisi said this much-needed win is good for the mood of the country and it will massively boost their confidence as they continue with the project of building a competitive team for the World Cup in Japan next year.
The build-up was dominated by Erasmus's comments that he may be fired if they lost to New Zealand by a big margin and Cosatu making accusations that black players in the team are treated "like second- class citizens".
But, on a chilly Wellington night, the Boks produced a magnificent performance in a gripping encounter that was still not decided when the hooter sounded after the Boks had Willie le Roux sent to the bin in the closing stages.
The sight of rising star Aphiwe Dyantyi bamboozling the All Blacks defence to score two tries and tiny Cheslin Kolbe, who scored an intercept try, defending on the edge of the try line as New Zealand tried to steal the match at the death, showed how much they wanted to win this one.
The Boks were outscored six tries to five, but gave an outstanding all-round performance that will be spoken about in this part of the world and in SA, where millions saw the action on television, for a long time.
As he reflected on the match, Erasmus issued a word of caution to his players that one swallow does not make a summer and they were lucky with All Blacks flyhalf Beauden Barrett having missed four conversions.
"We are still sitting low on the rankings and we have a lot of catching up to do over the next few months. There is no way we must get ahead of ourselves; it is just one big win that was achieved with a lot of luck against the best team in the world. We will take it and enjoy it, but it will be stupid to get ahead of ourselves because we are still far away. We were lucky today and maybe New Zealand had an off day, but there is a lot of work to do from our side," he said.
Kolisi said they were aware that New Zealand will come at them, but they backed each other and because they wanted to move away from the two losses against Argentina and Australia.
"It was about standing up and getting over the losses we had over the past few weeks. We backed each other and all the coach asked was for us to give a good performance. He came up with the plan and we bought into it. It is an awesome day for the team and for the people back home. This means a lot for South Africans and our planning for the World Cup," said Kolisi.
This famous victory was ensured courtesy of tries by Willie le Roux, Malcolm Marx, Kolbe and two by Dyantyi with Handré Pollard scoring 11 points from four conversions and one penalty as he showed marked improvements from Mendoza.
Even more importantly, the Boks have closed the gap on the All Blacks to six points in the Rugby Championship standings and they will have something to play for in the remaining matches against Australia in Port Elizabeth and New Zealand at Loftus in the coming weeks.
All Blacks (17) 34
Springboks (24) 36
All Blacks - Tries: Jordie Barrett, Aaron Smith, Codie Taylor, Rieko Ioane (2), Ardie Savea. Conversions: Beauden Barrett (2).
Springboks : Tries: Aphiwe Dyantyi (2), Willie le Roux, Malcolm Marx, Cheslin Kolbe. Conversions : Handre Pollard (4). Penalty: Pollard
THREE THINGS THAT WENT RIGHT
ROCK-SOLID DEFENCE
Numbers don't lie and despite conceding six tries, the Boks made 193 out of 226 tackles. The loose trio made 60 of them
FIVE-STAR ATTACK
The Boks scored five tries, something that doesn't often happen against the All Blacks
DUBIOUS REFEREEING
Nigel Owens' decision to yellow-card Willie le Roux was correct, but allowed the All Blacks to get away with murder..