The Springboks' title defence was off to a poor start after a first-round loss to the Wallabies and a defeat at New Zealand's fortress Eden Park last week, which sparked a raft of changes from coach Rassie Erasmus when naming his side as early as Monday.
Those incoming players responded with a history-making performance to inflict the heaviest-ever defeat on their hosts, beating the record the self-same Springboks held after their 35-7 win in Twickenham in a warm-up to their title-winning campaign at the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
It means there is all to play for in the last two rounds of the Rugby Championship, which sees the Springboks play Argentina in Durban and London, while the All Blacks face a Bledisloe Cup double header against the Wallabies in Auckland and Perth. Australia are currently top of the standings on 11 points, with South Africa and New Zealand on 10 and Argentina at the bottom on nine points.
"I give credit to my boys, we didn't give up. And to the coach as well," said South Africa captain Siya Kolisi.
"We played fearlessly, we didn't want to hold back. We knew what we needed to do and we believed in ourselves, that was the most important thing out there.
"We've got the right to fight for the Rugby Championship. It's open now and that's what matters to us."
Damian Willemse was one of many in red-hot form in Wellington, scoring a try in the kind of performance that will give Erasmus a good kind of headache about where the play the versatile back, who started the game at inside centre but finished it at full-back.
"Coach Rassie has been taking a lot of shots but he's been backing us as a team. We knew it was going to come," said Willemse. "It was a very good week for us."
Meanwhile, the result raises questions about whether Scott Robertson has had the impact as New Zealand head coach that many thought he would.
There were repeated calls made for the former Crusaders boss to be appointed even before he was given the reins after the 2023 World Cup, but since then New Zealand have struggled to put together the kind of form expected of three-time world champions.
"South Africa played incredibly well, took their opportunities and congratulations to them. We'll take it on the chin," Robertson said.
"You put so much work ethic into the team, culturally, and you set yourselves up around being able to dig in and show grit. And then that happens.
"We couldn't really buy anything, couldn't get anything happening and they just went on a tear.
"Of course, something like that is going to hurt you."
New Zealand captain Scott Barrett added: "That's a tough one to swallow. The Springboks certainly showed up and took a real improvement from last week and we just didn't adjust. Well done to Siya and his team.
"There's a lot of areas where we can get better. So we'll make an adjustment heading forward."