From the singing of the national anthems to the final play of the match, the 42,626-strong crowd was entertained on a night where Portugal not only faced the Boks for the first time, but also scored three tries that confirmed their status as a rugby nation on the rise.
Four of the seven Springboks who made their Test debuts on the night also scored tries, making their first Test caps extra special.
The match started in dramatic fashion when Andre Esterhuizen was yellow carded two minutes in after a tackle that was deemed to involve a head clash with Jose Lima. The Portuguese midfielder left on a stretcher and Esterhuizen didn't return when the yellow was upgraded to red following a bunker review.
Both teams were a bit frantic on attack early on, but Portugal were most effective in the early stages when exploiting the gap left by Esterhuizen on defence. They came close to the Bok line twice, but their opening points, a try by Lima's replacement, Jose Paiva dos Santos, started from deep into their own half.
Phepsi Buthelezi on the charge.
The Boks were attacking strongly, but an ineffective grubber by Evan Roos was picked up by the men in red and Dos Santos was sent on his merry way with no Bok defender in sight.
The outside back ran straight into the record books as well, becoming the first Portuguese player to score a Test try against South Africa. The conversion from straight in front by Joris Moura had them 7-0 up.
The Boks struck back immediately though. From the restart they forced Portugal into a poor touch finder and from the resulting lineout, Jan-Hendrik Wessels was driven over by his pack, scoring a try on debut. Libbok missed his conversion, but the Boks were stung into life.
They forced another attacking lineout 16 minutes in, which Portugal pulled down and were penalised. Libbok kicked to the corner again and from the resulting maul, Phepsi Buthelezi was worked over by the pack to also add a try to his Test debut.
The Boks were ahead for the first time and then pulled ahead even further when Kurt-Lee Arendse ran onto a beautiful Aphelele Fassi grubber. Libbok kicked his first conversion on the night and the Boks were up and running at 17-7.
Ben-Jason Dixon scored his first Test try.
Their fourth try came within the half hour mark when Ben-Jason Dixon became the third Bok to score his first try, in his second Test. The hosts attacked well around the fringes and the flanker crashed over from short range after some good continuity by the pack.
Arendse was yellow carded in the 34th minute for a neck roll at a ruck, but that did not stop the Bok backline from adding a fifth try despite having only five backs on the field only. Lukhanyo Am ran smartly onto a Libbok pass and through an outside gap to score in the corner, with the Bok flyhalf converting from the touchline.
The second half delivered more attacking brilliance from the Bok backs. Arendse, soon after his return from the sin-bin came close with a scintillating run and when the Boks attacked from a strong scrum shortly after, Makazole Mapimpi raced through to score the sixth try of the night.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who replaced Libbok a minute earlier, kicked the conversion and the lead grew to 36-7. Bok coach Rassie Erasmus also called on Morne van den Berg early in the second half and he replaced Cobus Reinach to make his Test debut.
Mapimpi was at again five minutes later. Portugal kicked deep, Van den Berg countered and Feinberg-Mngomezulu set off on a brilliant run that opened up the Portuguese attack. His final pass to Mapimpi was a beaut and the speedster finished in style to score his 29th try in 43 Tests. Feinberg-Mngomezulu converted and the lead raced to 43-7.
Hat-trick hero Makazole Mapimpi.
That was cut back by seven when Dos Santos scored a very good try, his second of the night. The wing was put in space and outfoxed the defence with an inside-outside swerve. Domingo Cabral converted and after an hour, the Boks were leading 43-14.
Meanwhile, Andre-Hugo Venter, Ruan Venter and Quan Horn all ran on to become Springboks, while Ntuthuko Mchunu, Trevor Nyakane and Elrigh Louw added to their respective caps when Erasmus cleared his bench.
Horn became the third player to score on debut when he ran a blindside line from a strong Bok scrum and Feinberg-Mngomezulu converted from a tight angle to bring up 50-points.
Not to be outdone by the other debutants, Andre-Hugo Venter crashed over from short range, this time at the back of some brutal pick-up and drives by the Bok pack. Feinberg-Mngomezulu made it four conversions in a row and the lead was 57-14 with just under 10 minutes to play.
Horn was yellow carded for a clumsy challenge in the air though and Portugal exploited the moment, with Duarte Torgai scoring their third try, but Mapimpi had the final say, scoring on the final hooter to send the sold-out crowd home happy and proud on a festive night in the Free State capital.
Scorers:
Springboks 64 (29) – Tries: Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Phepsi Buthelezi, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Ben-Jason Dixon, Lukhanyo Am, Makazole Mapimpi (3), Quan Horn, Andre-Hugo Venter. Conversions: Manie Libbok (2), Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (5).
Portugal 21 (7) – Tries: Jose Paiva dos Santos (2), Duarte Torgai. Conversions: Joris Moura, Domingo Cabral (2).
