The Springboks had a disappointing second Rugby Championship test against New Zealand on Saturday and failed to capitalise on the good start they had during round one.
It's highly unlikely now that the title will be coming South Africa's way after the showing against the All Blacks in Auckland's Mount Smart Stadium.
IOL Sport's Leighton Koopman takes a look at five key moments from the clash that went against and in favour of the Boks.
Slipping up defensively
Fullback Willie le Roux made two costly errors on defence that brought two tries in that opening spell for the All Blacks.
The fullback failed to rope in Will Jordan when the Kiwi winger went on a run to put scrumhalf Aaron Smith over.
On another occasion, he was swatted out of the way by flanker Shannon Frizell who powered over the try line with Le Roux failing to get low enough to try and stop the run.
He tackled perfectly against Australia last weekend stopping powerful winger Suliasi Vunivalu on a run.
It was two crucial missed tackles that brought 10 points for the home side and took their lead to 17-0.
For the first five minutes, the Boks made uncharacteristic errors by missing tackles that should have been regulation ones, and that allowed the quick-fire start for the home side.
A ball kicked too high
It's been a while since a Springbok team struggled to field box-kicks of their opponents. But Saturday it happened, and one of the normal strong points of the Bok game was brilliantly exploited by the New Zealanders.
Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber did not have the answer to how it happened that his team failed to secure high kicks, but said they will definitely have to work on that.
Some of the kicks that were dropped, were regulation takes for the players. One bomb, that landed about 5 meters from South Africa's try line, was almost collected by Will Jordan as he just-just knocked on otherwise it would've been a certain try.
One week ago in Pretoria, it was an effective display in the air, but on Saturday things spiralled as the game went on and the All Blacks turned the Boks' kick-game against them.
A phantom knock-on?
This was supposed to be the start of the Springbok fightback when Cheslin Kolbe at 25 minutes pounced on a ball dropped by Beauden Barrett over the try line after a good kick by flyhalf Damian Willemse.
It looked like Kolbe did enough to get downward pressure on the ball for the try. The Bok winger was confident he did so and walked straight back to his half.
But the Television Match Official stepped in and after several replay takes, he told the referee that Kolbe actually knocked the ball on in the act of scoring a try.
The Boks were perplexed by the decision but Beauden Barrett and the All Blacks got away with one that surely would've swung the momentum back into South Africa's favour had they scored before the half-hour mark.
A neckroll that halted a promising move
Just as it looked like Eben Etzebeth was over the try line, right at the end of the first half, the entire Springbok move was cancelled out due to a neckroll by Etzebeth's lock mate Lood de Jager.
After winning a penalty for a high tackle that almost took Makazole Mapimpi's head off, the ball was kicked into the corner and the Boks set a lineout.
The Boks took the ball up and after some carries, Etzebeth almost powered his way over and the referee wanted to consult with the TMO whether the ball was grounded or if there had been any infringements.
The TMO told the ref it wasn't necessary as he picked up De Jager's neckroll on an opponent which stopped the move right there and New Zealand could kick the ball into touch for halftime.
The Bomb Squad almost went Nuclear
They were about the only highlight for the World Champions and almost diffused the situation and brought the team back into the game after the terrible start they had.
When replacement hooker Malcolm Marx powered over after a rumbling maul thanks to the fresh legs of the Bomb Squad, it kick-started the second half for the home side. RG Snyman, Pieter-Steph du Toit, and Duane Vermeulen had all joined the action by then. It was precise timing to send them on after the Boks had dominated the last bits of the first half.
It was a powerful maul that showed the impact of the bench players and how they picked up the tempo. And the way Snyman celebrated that Marx maul-try showed the type of energy that the visitors had missed in the first half.
This try sparked the fightback but overturning a 20-3 deficit against New Zealand was always going to be a bridge too far.
IOL Sport