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• Kolisi 'had to prove himself' in landmark South Africa triumph

  South Africa captain Siya Kolisi said he had to prove himself after being given the chance to lead the Springboks out in their Rugby Championship win over New Zealand.

  Kolisi's early try after the break sparked the hosts' revival after they went in at half-time 9-3 down before roaring to an 18-12 victory in Cape Town. 

  It was the fourth successive win by the Springboks over the All Blacks, as they maintained their perfect record in this year's Rugby Championship.

  Kolisi described the encounter as South Africa's most important game since they won the World Cup final against the same opponents in Paris last year.

  "The coach gave me the chance when I said I was okay so I couldn’t go half-hearted. Nobody is going to celebrate you if you don’t go flat out," said Kolisi.

  "We didn’t start the way we wanted to and the coach was quite honest with us [at half-time]. At the start of the second half we did what we wanted.

  "This game was really big for us."

  The triumph marked the first time since 1949 that South Africa have won four straight Tests against New Zealand.

  However, head coach Rassie Erasmus was muted despite achieving the most successful streak against South Africa's arch-rivals in the professional era.

  "It was nice, but they have had big scores against us and six times in a row they have beaten us," he said.

  "It's nothing to brag about because they have done worse to us. But it was special."

• South Africa 18-12 New Zealand: Springboks close in on Rugby Championship glory

  South Africa continued their dominance in this year's Rugby Championship as they clinched an 18-12 victory over New Zealand in Cape Town on Saturday.

  Having trailed by six points heading into the break, the hosts rallied to record a fourth consecutive win over the All Blacks and lift the Freedom Cup for the first time in 15 years.

  New Zealand started brightly, with their dominance rewarded by the boot of Damian McKenzie after Jasper Wiese had been sent to the sin bin.

  McKenzie converted his second penalty just before the half-hour mark as the Springboks saw some uncharacteristic errors punished. 

  Handre Pollard's penalty failed to change the sway of momentum, with McKenzie's third conversion of the half giving the All Blacks the advantage at the break. 

  But an immediate response transpired after the interval as Siya Kolisi burst over the tryline, with Pollard's conversion handing the Springboks the lead for the first time.

  Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu extended South Africa's advantage, but McKenzie's fourth and final penalty of the encounter closed the gap once again. 

  However, the hosts sealed the win when Malcolm Marx powered over for a try six minutes from time to see the Springboks close in on the title.

  Data Debrief: Cape Town comforts

  This is the first time since 1949 that South Africa have won four straight Tests against their great rivals New Zealand.

  They have also now won four straight Tests in Cape Town, and that is despite trailing at half-time in three of those four matches. 

  New Zealand, meanwhile, have lost three of their last four Tests, having only suffered one defeat across their previous nine matches.

• Australia ease to T20I series sweep of Scotland

  Australia overcame a rough start to their innings to ease to a six-wicket victory over Scotland in the teams' third T20I on Saturday, clinching a series sweep at The Grange.

  Having been inspired to comprehensive victories by some expert batting from Travis Head and Josh Inglis in the first two matches of the tour, the visitors found themselves dropped to 18-2 as they chased a target of 150.

  Scotland had been led by Brandon McMullen's 56 runs off 39 balls as they achieved a respectable figure despite the best efforts of Cameron Green, who finished with figures of 3-35 for the tourists.

  It was also McMullen whose terrific diving catch sent Jake Fraser-McGurk walking for a duck before Head (12) swept Brad Currie's fourth-over delivery straight to George Munsey to put Australia in a spot of bother.

  However, Green replicated his bowling heroics with the bat, hitting an unbeaten 62 off 39 balls to ensure Scotland's joy was short-lived.

  Even the wicket of captain Mitchell Marsh, who dragged on for 31 runs from Jack Jarvis' rasping delivery in the 10th over, could not halt the tourists' momentum, and they got over the line with 23 balls to spare for just one further loss.

  Data Debrief: Green shows all-round credentials

  Australia's third straight victory in Edinburgh was slightly more testing than their previous two as the top order faltered, but they could count on an exceptional all-round showing from Green.

  Having taken three wickets in a T20I for the very first time, he proceeded to also register his best batting performance in the format, beating his previous best of 61 versus India in 2022.

  Had Scotland succeeded in setting a more challenging target, Green might have had his eyes on an even more impressive total, having slammed five sixes and two fours.