Last tango in PE goes back 41 years

So frequent and routine have Tests between the Springboks and the All Blacks become that it is increasingly hard to discern the classics from the comics.

Next week's Tri-Nations encounter between the arch-rivals may be all about what pre-World Cup portents will bubble to the surface, but the encounter also provides the opportunity to reflect for a moment on the teams' rich history.

The clash between the Springboks and the All Blacks in Port Elizabeth in 1970, the last time they met there, is etched in folklore.

The Springboks won the first Test in Pretoria and the All Blacks the second at Newlands. The third went down as one of the Springboks' most important triumphs on home soil as they took an unassailable lead in the four-match series.

The Port Elizabeth Test was payback time, not just for the defeat at Newlands but the psychological and physical scars the Springboks suffered in the shadow of Table Mountain.

"They beat us 9-8 in the second Test. It was the most horrible Test," recalled Syd Nomis, for whom that defeat was a particularly bitter pill to swallow.

"I had teeth knocked out, Dawie (de Villiers) had nine stitches in his ear, Piston (van Wyk) had 12 stitches in his upper lip," he recalled of the lengths (and depths) the teams went to in the second Test.

"I eventually lost six teeth. They transplanted some at the back with cement the next day. They lasted four and a half years before being rejected by my body. I had to put in a bridge because the teeth just crumbled," said the engaging former utility back who turns 70 in November.

Nomis suffered the injury at the hands, er, make that elbow, of All Blacks fullback Fergie McCormick, who straight armed the speeding wing who was in hot pursuit of a kick.

"I had two weeks to sort out my teeth before the next Test and I had to wear a gum guard. I think I might have started the use of gum guards.

"There was a bit of revenge coming," Nomis said of the third Test. "McCormick was made to suffer a little bit. He gave me a straight-arm elbow at Newlands and it wasn't a nice thing. In the third Test he hit me again and my jaw went to one side. The two of us were fighting in front of the main stand and back then the ref didn't come and stop things.

"Lofty (Nel) came up and stopped the whole thing. Fergie was a bit of a dirty player. He got hurt in that game and I don't think he played another game on tour."

It wasn't just off-the-ball stuff that Nomis was able to recall in an instant. "Gert Muller was the star of that Test. He scored two tries. He played left wing and I played right wing that day and Ian McCallum slotted a conversion and two penalties."

Van Wyk, Johan Spies, Joggie Jansen and McCallum all played in their third Test after debuting in the first of the series.

"The youngsters came through wonderfully and proved themselves. They also brought Lofty back at No8 and he was brilliant. He brought a lot of experience. I respected that man and he looked after you when the fights ensued," said Nomis.

Nomis, who is as chipper as ever and is getting around as much as he did before his left leg was amputated above the knee last year, remembers the series and its significance as if it was yesterday.

"They gave us no chance of beating them. In the first 11 games of the tour they cut through the provinces. We won the last Test by three points but the series clincher was the third Test when we beat the Unsmiling Giants."