Referee Nigel Owens did not act on an offside message from one of his assistant referees as the clock ticked past 82 minutes during Saturday’s match in Wellington.

The All Blacks were trailing 36-34 with the full-time hooter having sounded when a voice in Owens’ ear said ‘nine and eight offside’, referring to Bok scrumhalf Faf de Klerk and No 8 Warren Whiteley.

Owens, though, did not award a penalty, which would have been straight in front of the posts and a certain three points for the hosts.

New Zealand coach Steve Hansen was asked about the incident at the post-match press conference.

‘I just heard the same thing you did,’ he told the journalist. ‘Obviously Nigel didn’t hear it, else he would have done something about it.

‘There’s no point in me bitching about that. The game is about taking your opportunities and making sure the opposition don’t. We didn’t do that tonight.

‘The result is a credit to South Africa, I thought they played particularly well and took all the chances that were there to be taken.’

WATCH: All Blacks press conference

Photo: Hannah Peters/Getty Images