Philander had Martin Guptill (eight) caught at slip by Stiaan van Zyl before Steyn induced an edge from Tom Latham that was caught by wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock. Guptill edged a slightly short of length, nearly good length delivery, to Hashim Amla at slip. Both openers were out for a golden duck.
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Steyn (5-33) gave South Africa the ideal start by removing both the openers, Tom Latham (0) and Martin Guptill (0) in the very first over.
From there, New Zealand will need to just play every ball on its merits.
At the end of the day’s play South Africa was on 105/6.
Henry Nicholls (7) and BJ Watling (5) were not out at lunch, with New Zealand in serious trouble with five more sessions to survive.
After lunch, the duo of Nicholls and Watling carried on the fightback. The partnership was broken by Dane Piedt (1-52) in the 30th over when Watling was trapped LBW.
Nicholls brought up his second Test half-century after the break in the company of Mitchell Santner.
With plenty of deliveries beating the bat and the scoring rate slow, Ross Taylor (one) showed signs of panic. New Zealand were 164 for 7 at that stage.
Wagner was struck on the helmet by Rabada but responded by slogging four fours and a six in an innings of 31 before he was caught behind off Steyn. Wagner too was done in by a yorker from Rabada, that wrapped him low on the pads.
Rabada finished with 3-62, Steyn 3-66 and Philander 2-43.
A masterful display of swing bowling from Dale Steyn, who picked up his first five-wicket haul in global cricket since December 2014, helped South Africa bowl New Zealand out for 195 in their chase of 400 on the fourth day in Centurion.
“There is a lot happening in the wicket and we just needed one guy to anchor the innings and keep them out there as long as possible”, he said. “It’s a good Test wicket, with something in it for both batsmen and bowlers”, he said.
De Kock‚ who had not opened the batting in any of his 13 previous Test innings‚ offered to do so after Dean Elgar twisted an ankle while stepping over the boundary the day before the match.
“It was probably from day two where that started to happen and that is something you don’t see very often”.
Williamson and Nicholls saw out the first hour and took the score from the overnight 38 for three to 86 before Rabada made the breakthrough, trapping Nicholls leg before wicket with a full delivery with the batsman back on his stumps.
His declaration was therefore geared to having New Zealand bat when it was most likely to be tough for them in South African winter conditions, with the close coming near sunset.
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Resuming the day at 105/6, a gritty Temba Bavuma (40 not out) helped the home side stretch their lead.
