All Blacks coach Scott Robertson said the outcome hinged on small moments after the world champion Springboks extended their lead in the southern hemisphere championship standings.
The All Blacks gave away several penalties and went down to 14 men when Ofa Tu'ungafasi was yellow carded in the 68th minute.
"It’s obviously the discipline stuff, small moments and the game changed just a little bit of momentum," Robertson told reporters.
"Then off the back of that with a bit of discipline, all those things combined.
"But we still had opportunities. It was a great experience for those young guys but we’ve just got to execute better because that’s how we’re going to finish tests better," he said of his side who have lost two of their opening three games in this year’s Rugby Championship.
"What an atmosphere and what an event it was and we played our part for 65 minutes," added Robertson of the long-standing All Blacks-Bok rivalry as the sides met for the first time since South Africa’s 12-11 success in last October’s World Cup finals in Paris.
All Blacks captain Scott Barrett gave much the same assessment.
"The Springboks won the territory battle and when they got the ball in our end of the field, the crowd got behind them and our (lack of) discipline probably fed them more opportunity, so it’s frustrating to have that lead and then to let them in like that," he said.
