It just does not get bigger in world rugby than the All Blacks versus the Springboks in South Africa and Scott Robertson’s All Blacks get the rare opportunity in the modern era to win a series in South Africa.
Pre-professionalism, winning a series in South Africa was the All Blacks kryptonite. They drew 2-all in 1928, lost four-nil in 1949, won one, lost one and drew two in 1960, lost 3-1 in 1970 and lost 3-1 in 1976.
Then Sean Fitzpatrick’s "Incomparables" finally scaled their rugby Everest in winning the three-Test series against the Springboks in 1996. It was a remarkable achievement, given the schedule and the quality of the Boks. The All Blacks played the final Tri-Nations Test in Cape Town against the Boks, won 29-18 and claimed the first ever competition title. They had won 15-11 against the Boks in New Zealand earlier in the tournament.
The six-match tour which followed Cape Town’s Tri-Nations finale involved three midweek matches and three Tests. The All Blacks won the series opener in Durban and sealed the series in Pretoria with an epic 33-26 win. The match ended with the All Blacks on their goalline defending their right to be history makers.
When the two teams last played, it was in Paris in the World Cup final. The Boks won by a point, 12-11. So little separates the two greatest rugby nations.
The Boks would win the final Test at Ellis Park.
I was blessed to be at every one of those five Tests in 1996 and the magnitude of what the All Blacks achieved can never be overstated. It was monumental.
There has not been another three-Test series in South Africa between the two nations because of the structure of the Rugby Championship, but there have been three occasions that the schedule has allowed for a two-Test series and New Zealand has not been able to replicate 1996.
The 2006 All Blacks, potent as they were, stumbled in Rustenburg in the second Test, to a last-minute Andre Pretorius penalty. The All Blacks had won in Pretoria the previous week.
In 2009 Richie McCaw’s men lost successive Tests to arguably the greatest Bok team in the modern era and in 2022 the All Blacks secured a drawn series with a stunning win at Ellis Park.
It is at Ellis Park where the two start the latest chapter of a rivalry that sits at 106 Tests, with 52 of them having been played in South Africa. The Boks have won 26 at home, the All Blacks 25 and one has been drawn. The average score is 20-19 to the All Blacks. When the two teams last played, it was in Paris in the World Cup final. The Boks won by a point, 12-11. So little separates the two greatest rugby nations.
I loved watching the Australia/New Zealand podcast The Good, the Bad & the Rugby this week. Justin Marshall and former Wallabies hooker Jeremy Paul are the rugby-playing hosts and their guest was Christian Cullen. Marshall and Cullen, in their first year of international rugby, were part of the 1996 series win, and it took me back in time to listen to their recollections, their insights and just what it took to win in South Africa.
It was also another reminder of the class and quality of these two All Blacks. Marshall, with 81 Tests at scrumhalf, had so many wonderful battles with Joost van der Westhuizen and Cullen was irrepressible when playing against the Boks.
Percy Montgomery, the first Springbok Test centurion and record Springbok points scorer, rates Cullen as the best he has played against, and Marshall had no hesitation in describing his mate as the best he had ever seen play.
Cullen, in 58 Tests, scored 46 tries and his 10 tries in 15 Tests against the Boks is the most scored by any player in the 106-Test rivalry. Cullen’s appetite for scoring against South African teams extended beyond the Test stage, and he scored 29 tries in 31 Super Rugby matches against the Bulls, Cheetahs, Lions, Sharks and Stormers.
The reverence and respect were obvious as they spoke of touring South Africa and of the achievement of winning in the republic.
Any current Bok who may have watched would have been put on red alert for next Saturday — and the significance of every Test match the All Blacks get to play in South Africa. To fully appreciate what is building over the next two weeks, there must be an understanding of what has played out in the previous 106 Tests.
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