Replacement scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies scored a try in the final minute of play to help South Africa snatch a 16-16 draw with New Zealand in a tense Rugby Championship clash in Wellington on Saturday.
Jantjies pounced on an error by Aaron Smith to silence most of the sold-out crowd, who had until the try been expecting a tight win for the world champions at the Wellington Regional Stadium.
Jack Goodhue scored the only try for the All Blacks after a scintillating break from Beauden Barrett, while the fullback and fly-half Richie Mo'unga added the rest of the points from the boot.
Springboks fly-half Handre Pollard kicked three penalties for the visitors, then held his nerve to slot the conversion that locked the scores at 16-16 and ended the game.
Jantjies, who scored two tries on debut against Australia last week, had replaced Faf de Klerk midway through the second half after the 27-year-old had a head injury assessment and did not return.
The All Blacks will also be sweating on the fitness of their lock Brodie Retallick, who looked in pain and cradled his left arm as he walked off in the 61st minute.
The match had been billed as one of experimentation by both teams as they fine-tuned their Rugby World Cup preparations and it was just as intense as their last three matches, which had been decided by two points or fewer.
Neither side was able to truly stamp any authority on their opponents, although South Africa's tactical kicking game and brutal defence kept them in the game when the All Blacks looked to have gone up a gear in the final quarter.
Early pressure by the Springboks had resulted in two penalties to Pollard to give them a deserved 6-0 lead before the game turned into an arm-wrestle between the 22-metre areas.
It was not until the 37th minute before All Blacks passes finally stuck when Beauden Barrett found space following a turnover and he passed inside to Goodhue, who ran 30 metres to give the home side a 7-6 lead at the break.
Barrett and Pollard traded penalties in the third quarter, with the injection of replacement players sparking the world champions, who began to finally get over the advantage line out wide.
Mo'unga then added two further penalties, the second to give the All Blacks a 16-9 lead with six minutes remaining before a fortuitous bounce of the ball off Smith while under pressure gave Jantjies the try that levelled the match.
RESULTS
Bantamweight:
Zia Mashwani (PAK) bt Chris Corton (PHI)
Super lightweight:
Flavio Serafin (BRA) bt Mohammad Al Khatib (JOR)
Super lightweight:
Dwight Brooks (USA) bt Alex Nacfur (BRA)
Bantamweight:
Tariq Ismail (CAN) bt Jalal Al Daaja (JOR)
Featherweight:
Abdullatip Magomedov (RUS) bt Sulaiman Al Modhyan (KUW)
Middleweight:
Mohammad Fakhreddine (LEB) bt Christofer Silva (BRA)
Middleweight:
Rustam Chsiev (RUS) bt Tarek Suleiman (SYR)
Welterweight:
Khamzat Chimaev (SWE) bt Mzwandile Hlongwa (RSA)
Lightweight:
Alex Martinez (CAN) bt Anas Siraj Mounir (MAR)
Welterweight:
Jarrah Al Selawi (JOR) bt Abdoul Abdouraguimov (FRA)
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Your rights as an employee
The government has taken an increasingly tough line against companies that fail to pay employees on time. Three years ago, the Cabinet passed a decree allowing the government to halt the granting of work permits to companies with wage backlogs.
The new measures passed by the Cabinet in 2016 were an update to the Wage Protection System, which is in place to track whether a company pays its employees on time or not.
If wages are 10 days late, the new measures kick in and the company is alerted it is in breach of labour rules. If wages remain unpaid for a total of 16 days, the authorities can cancel work permits, effectively shutting off operations. Fines of up to Dh5,000 per unpaid employee follow after 60 days.
Despite those measures, late payments remain an issue, particularly in the construction sector. Smaller contractors, such as electrical, plumbing and fit-out businesses, often blame the bigger companies that hire them for wages being late.
The authorities have urged employees to report their companies at the labour ministry or Tawafuq service centres — there are 15 in Abu Dhabi.
TOUCH RULES
Touch is derived from rugby league. Teams consist of up to 14 players with a maximum of six on the field at any time.
Teams can make as many substitutions as they want during the 40 minute matches.
Similar to rugby league, the attacking team has six attempts - or touches - before possession changes over.
A touch is any contact between the player with the ball and a defender, and must be with minimum force.
After a touch the player performs a “roll-ball” - similar to the play-the-ball in league - stepping over or rolling the ball between the feet.
At the roll-ball, the defenders have to retreat a minimum of five metres.
A touchdown is scored when an attacking player places the ball on or over the score-line.
