Mud and blood, titan versus titan, metal on metal – the most ancient of rugby rivalries is due for a revival. One of the greatest losses of the professional era was the cessation of tours between South Africa and New Zealand. In the amateur epoch, barring one short period between 1971 and 1974 when the British and Irish Lions were in the ascendant, that was the litmus test of the world’s best.
The Springboks claimed an away series win in the Shaky Isles back in 1937, while the All Blacks had to wait until 1996 to get their revenge, 68 years after their first visit to the Republic. It is good news indeed a place has now been found on the rugby calendar for a resumption of hostilities.
Now the tastiest dish of all is back on the menu. From 2026 onwards, there will be tours every four years, beginning with a visit by the All Blacks in which they will play three Tests against the Springboks, and five other games against the four URC franchises and a scratch South Africa ‘A’ side. If it means abandoning the Rugby Championship and temporarily dumping Australia and Argentina, so be it. This is a blood feud between the two dominant rugby families in the rugby city, Montague versus Capulet.
The entrée will be New Zealand’s mini-tour of South Africa at the end of August. Two Tests, one at altitude in Ellis Park Johannesburg on 31 August, the second at sea level in Cape Town on 7 September. It may only be a bite-size menu dégustation compared to the real thing, but there will be a tantalising flavour of things to come.
Touring a country like South Africa scratches the surface of the psychological metal, to reveal what lies beneath. It unmasks the underlying character of the tourists. From 2026 onwards at least, there will be nine straight weeks spent away from home, familiar comforts missing and nowhere to hide.
Perhaps this is what All Blacks skipper Ardie Savea had in mind when he spoke immediately after the bounce-back 42-10 victory over Argentina at Eden Park:
“I guess when the team is against the wall, it brings the best out of people. A good challenge is not relying on a loss to get a response, and getting that edge every week, as an All Black.”
Savea was spot on. Although praise-worthy in itself, the win against the Pumas only reinforced a pattern which has been repeating ever since 2020.
All Blacks supporters will be fully entitled to remain sceptical of ‘Razor’ Robertson’s optimistic post-match soundbites.
“We talked about having a response, and we did tonight, especially the first 40 [minutes],” he said.
“I’m just really proud that we showed what we’re all about.
“We created more opportunities and executed them. Our timing was a little bit better. We created a bit more. We played through the front door – we banged that down quite nicely – which created opportunities out the back.
“We wanted to bury them in the Garden [of Eden Park]. We wanted to make sure that we finished them off.
“When we got down there, into the [Argentine] 22, we just didn’t finish a couple [of chances] off, which would have probably made it a bit sweeter.
“But the efforts were there, that created those opportunities.”
This was an educational game for the All Blacks coaching staff. They were able to remedy some of the shortcomings at Wellington, and they also took the chance to cast an eye over some players who may prove more than handy in South Africa.
In last week’s article, I looked at some of the holes in New Zealand exit strategy. There was a decisive response at Eden Park, even at the opening kick-off.
In the first snapshot from Wellington, the forward pod on Sam Darry [“1”] is upfield, with the wing [Mark Telea “2”] behind him and the likely kicker [number 9 TJ Perenara “3”] out of shot in the left corner of the 22. In the Garden of Eden Park that arrangement had changed completely, with the wing [Caleb Clarke] ahead of the forward pod and the probable kicker now 12 Jordie Barrett instead of his scrum-half.
That was enough to deter the Pumas from restarting to the New Zealand left until the beginning of the second period. When they kicked off to the opposite side, Damian McKenzie concentrated on either pumping the ball long, or finding touch. The distribution of kicking responsibilities was transformed in the process.
The kicking emphasis moved away from nine, towards 10 and 12 in the second match, and it was all the better for it. When the Pumas finally redirected towards the area which had been so productive for them in the capital city, the new alignment in the target zone proved its value.
With a full lifting pod around Darry, the Argentine chase cannot get near the ball in the air, and when the big Aucklander returns to terra firma he has the strength to take play all the way up to a spot near the 40m line. That represents an armchair ride for his scrum-half, with Perenara launching the box-kick from a position 20 metres further upfield compared to the situation at Sky Stadium. The All Blacks promptly confirmed it by winning the next first touch and regathering the ball well inside the visitors’ half.
Moving the weight of the kicking game towards Jordie Barrett also paid obvious dividends. Barrett’s length was used to get maximum distance on all penalty kicks, and his touch on the grubber resulted in the opening try for his team.
With the mighty Springboks hoving into view, the performance of 6ft 5ins 145kg prop Tamaiti Williams was also under the microscope. Although Ethan de Groot remains first choice at loose-head, the All Black selectors may have been growing impatient for the 24 year-old Crusaders product to make his move on the international stage.
The majority of the five penalties New Zealand won at scrum-time derived directly from Williams’ strength on the left side. Except for one scrum on the Pumas feed, his opponent Lucio Sordoni was quite unable to force him to scrum at a height where he would have felt less comfortable.
As soon as Williams wins the battle of the binds with Sordoni, there is nothing the Argentine can do to control scrum height and prevent an ocean of weight and power flowing through the left side of the Kiwi set-piece.
New Zealand also made sensible use of the short-side from both scrum and lineout in the wet conditions, and Williams was at the heart of their effort in both areas.
With the defensive half-back required to retire from scrums rather than having the option to chase his opposite number across to the base, there is ample scope for the resuscitation of moves involving numbers eight, nine and the blind-side wing.
The young giant also won his battle with Sordoni on the lineout drive.
Williams’ job is to get ‘on point’, and as far ahead of the receiver [Ethan Blackadder] as possible, opening up the short-side for further progress. Sordoni’s assignment is to remain standing at first defender and stay out of the maul. Williams does his job so well the Argentine tight-head feels compelled to add his weight to defence of the drive, and Williams promptly changes his bind specifically to grab hold of his opposite number. That is Perenara’s cue to take off down the narrow side with Will Jordan in support.
New Zealand’s second offering against the Pumas was far better than the first, as it properly needed to be. There were intelligent fixes at kick-off receipts, and they managed the kicking game far better, with more emphasis on second five-eighth and less pressure on the scrum-half. There was a notable contribution from Williams in the tight phases which bodes well for the tougher tests to come in South Africa.
The temperature in the Rugby Championship is about to rise from mild and relatively agreeable to volcanic, or red-hot. The age-old rivalry between New Zealand and South Africa will resume with their mini-tour the preface to a much longer, eight-match chapter in the greatest rugby history book of all two years hence.
On that tour, the All Blacks will find out more about themselves, and what has happened to South African rugby in the northern hemisphere than they may care to know.
Aaron Smith spoke for the bulk of New Zealanders when he said:
“How the hell did we let them go? Our greatest rivals, with arguably some of the greatest players to play the game constantly on our screens or even in the flesh…
“I will never forget my first trip to South Africa. A young kid playing for the Highlanders, travelling the globe to play against players I only thought of as cartoon characters.
“Suddenly, they were running at me, wanting to take my head off. The great Fourie du Preez, playing mind games with me. Bakkies Botha – I will never forget this – laughing at me as I stood there bridging over the ball.
“Or Ryan Kankowski of the Sharks, chipping it over my head and scoring a try that only the great Bryan Habana could emulate.”
Bring it on.
Great to read a follow up where we see highlighted issues addressed. Thanks Nick
Personally, I’m unhappy with the attitude of our so-called partners in SANZAAR, creating a playing model that suits the two stronger ones and ignores the other two but apparently that’s how a partnership works in the 21st century.
Always nice to track things from game to game - good indicator of coaching intelligence DM!
You don't hav 4 world cups to bet and you cannot have ours.
World number 1 team, playing back to back tests at home, most of the media already writing the Springboks name in the winners column against an underperforming ABs team. They are expected to win, and all the pressure is on them to do so. ABs will enjoy being able to fly under the radar.
ABs never flying under the radar in these contests. Too much history. But the Boks owe them a few from previous eras.
Correct. The ABs might be under a new kind of pressure though. Not losing badly. The public back home might be accepting of a loss, but not one of it shows they’re not making strides.
The best thing for both teams is to put the outside pressure aside and focus on the occasion of playing this test - easier said than done - but it’s what the players and staff often talk about.
The Springboks are a bag of tricks where you don't know what you'll get, and not entirely of their own doing.
I loved egging on the traditionalist South African rugby fan by saying their team can be much better than they are, and oh boy, are they proving it this year, I'm also not going to give Tony Brown all the credit for that either.
Razor still hasn't fixed that most glaring of Foster era issues, consistency, or more accurately in my opinion, complacency. That there appeared to be no signs of change in this aspect before or after, I think we can assume the high Crusaders base level gave him a free ride in this respect, and the poor season starts that had been experienced can be put down to both his ability and his goals. I'm not prepared to allow NZR to make the same mistake again with the group. Some people say that Wayne Smith has had a big involvement with the team, I think these circumstances are a clear sign that he hasn't, but if NZR review shows that he did, they need to ensure the correct personal next time. Allowing complacency in an All Black environment is unforgivable.
The weather played perfectly into New Zealands hands, practically every aspect of their play was increased by it and every aspect of Argentina's negated. I'd have to watch a replay but I think Argentina coaching group sucker punched New Zealands and didn't place as much emphasis on the restart, where NZ (as explained here) put too much on it, to the detriment of the exits, again. Thank you for highlighting Tamaiti's involvement, we've often caught SA's scrum with their pants down, but I don't expect to see that happen here. Scrum's are going to be a huge contest, if for nothing more that bragging rights between the traditionalists.
Huh? The article states that NZ's exits were much improved. Overthinking it JW.
Re: Razor and unbundling from Foster - heard The Breakdown mention that there are 9 mostly new members of management/coaching staff at the ABs - it’s almost a rugby team in itself. Which is a big number of new voices giving direction to the players. Can’t be an easy transition and will take a season and a half ( at least) to manage the changes.
I hope you’re right about Tony Brown. Because if he has been that instrumental - he’ll get snapped up by you guys sooner!