Liam Napier
When the final whistle sounded yesterday, there was no outward ecstasy. Initially only relief. The brutal battle was over.
In their dressing room, two hours after they collapsed to the turf with physical and mental exhaustion the All Blacks could be heard, finally, singing and celebrating a historic triumph at Ellis Park.
But they needed every minute of those two hours just to catch their breath at altitude.
It sparked memories of the All Blacks' first series win on South African soil in 1996 - not quite Sean Fitzpatrick pounding the Pretoria ground, but similar scenes of overwhelming fatigue. There was no joyous embrace. No pats on the back. Not even a low-key fist pump could be seen right away.
"The boys are pretty happy now but they had spent everything they had. Because of that it was pretty hard to find the energy to get too carried away," captain courageous Richie McCaw said.
"You can't underestimate the travel and the short week. You have to do everything right. The guys realise they did that."
As Kieran Read clambered up the steps to discuss one of the highlights of his career, it was obvious he was shattered. His voice was broken and gruff. He looked and sounded as though he'd been in a car crash.
"It took me a long time just to get up the tunnel at the end of the game and recover [my] breath," he said. "The first 20 minutes and last 10 were the gut-busting moments. We stuck at it through the middle."
Even after a debatable spell in the sin-bin for a minor ruck infringement, Liam Messam couldn't hide his tiredness.
"At the moment I'm knackered, still trying to catch my breath, even though I had a 10-minute break," he said. "Once we get back home it will start sinking in."
With the Springboks needing to score four tries to have any hope of stealing the Rugby Championship trophy, not even the outside backs were spared the frenetic pace.
"Everyone was out on their feet at the end," said Ben Smith, who claimed his eighth try to surpass Christian Cullen and Bryan Habana's joint tournament record. "It just shows what kind of game it was. It is a highlight for me to play here at Ellis Park. This is one of the toughest games I've played in."
