New Zealand bagged three wickets including the crucial dismissals of Faf du Plessis and Temba Bavuma on the second morning of the third Test in Hamilton on Sunday.
Recalled fast bowler Matt Henry claimed two of the wickets to give him four for the innings while Tom Latham featured twice with sharp catches.
At lunch, South Africa were 243 for seven with Quinton de Kock, nursing an injured finger, on 66 and Keshav Maharaj on five.
As the threatened rain held off, South Africa put on 120 in the session which was extended by 30 minutes to compensate for time lost on the first day.
After resuming at 123 for four, they advanced to 148 before Bavuma was the first wicket to fall, removed by Henry for 29.
The diminutive batsman was through his pull shot too early and the ball hit the toe of the bat and flew to Jeet Raval at first slip.
The arrival of de Kock to the crease brought a resumption of his battle with off-spinner Jeetan Patel.
Patel took de Kock’s wicket cheaply the first four times they met on this tour but since then the honours have been with the wicketkeeper-batsman.
He dominated in the second Test in Wellington and in Hamilton he took a six and two fours off Patel to force him out of the attack after four overs.
Unfortunately for South Africa, he was replaced by Mitchell Santner who removed du Plessis for 53 with his third delivery.
The wicket was the result of a smart one-handed catch by Latham at short leg.
He anticipated the South African skipper was lining up to sweep the left-arm spinner and was already moving to his right before the ball was hit.
After taking the du Plessis catch, Latham was in the action again at second slip to snare Vernon Philander off Henry for 11.
During his brief stay, Philander became the sixth South African to reach the double of 1,000 Test runs and 100 wickets.
