South Africa further cemented themselves as the world's best team with a 3-1 victory over New Zealand in the Rugby's Greatest Rivalry series.

🌐 Here's What Happened

After losing the opening Test in Johannesburg, the world champions won three straight games, comfortably claiming the series with a 43-28 win in Baltimore.

The fourth Test, played in the United States, came after three Tests in South Africa where the All Blacks continued to show promising signs under Dave Rennie.

With the Rugby World Cup next year, what did we learn from the series, which replaced this year's Rugby Championship and will be played again in 2029?

📌 Key Details

New Zealander Tony Brown's arrival as attack coach in 2024 pointed to South Africa's ambition to dominate in all facets of the game.

The former Highlanders head coach, who will join the All Blacks in 2028, is known for creating a cohesive attacking shape built on sharp ball movement.

But having been outscored in terms of tries over the first two Tests, the Springboks flipped their pack-power trump card - pivotal to their back-to-back World Cup successes - to prevent a repeat of New Zealand's victorious 1996 series win in South Africa.

Nothing illustrated that more than a monster maul that started just inside New Zealand's 22 and ended with Malcolm Marx peeling off to score the decisive try under the posts.

That came after a penalty try from a scrum in the first half. In Baltimore, their power again proved too much.

"South Africa have tried to play expansively a couple of times when we have dominance after hurting teams in the maul or scrum," Schalk Brits, a 2019 World Cup winner, told BBC Sport.

📰 Source: BBC Africa