Key events
7 min: Wiese wins the restart. Williams hoofs a box but then Louw strays offside around halfway as he’s too eager at a ruck. Love then finds touch inside the Boks’ 22.
Penalty! South Africa 3-0 New Zealand (Kolbe, 5)
It’s Cheslin Kolbe kicking at the poles! Well then. Not sure why SFM didn’t take it but the result is South Africa take an early lead.
4 min: Marx misses du Toit at the line-out so NZ have the ball back. Roigard lifts a high kick that is claimed back but SA have their hands on it. A soft penalty is given away and then someone in black backchats – I think that was Lomax. So Carley marches them 10m back and SFM will take aim at the posts.
Soft from the All Blacks after being handed possession from the line-out.
2 min: SA so aggressive on the line. They know that the ABs want to play at a high tempo but if they keep running into brick walls they’ll change their tune. SFM nails this penalty in the corner. SA will have the line-out inside NZ’s 22.
1 min: Etzebteth charges down Roigard’s box but he’s too eager and is pinned for being off-side. AB line-out inside SA territory. Lord takes it and Savea runs it into traffic. Taylor is nailed and Marx makes a steal! But the ABs win it back as Marx was isolated. Jordan down on the right flank makes some ground. De Groot is nailed and Wiese wins the penalty.
What a start!
Alrighty then, here we go!
The greatest rivalry in rugby union is underway as Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (SFM from now on) kicks off.
How good is the Haka!?
I know some people might dismiss it. I’ve even written a piece wondering if it still has a place in the game. But my word it’s such a vibe!
Call me sentimental, or a flip-flopper, but I hope it never goes away.
Now the anthems.
According to a quick Google search, New Zealand and South Africa are two of just eight nations with multiple languages in their anthems.
Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Included in the list I could find are Canada, Fiji, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Belgium and Finland.
Again, I could be wrong. No time to fact check too deeply. It’s almost game time.
Now Damian de Allende walks out with his wife and two children.
What a moment for the midfielder who wins his 100th cap.
They’re followed by three body builders dressed in traditional Zulu warrior attire, each carrying spears and dancing and jumping about.
That’s the signal for Pieter-Steph du Toit and the rest of the Boks to follow.
What. An. Atmosphere!
Here come the All Blacks!
Led by Ardie Savea.
Ellis Park, which has just had a flyover by a jumbo jet – as is tradition – is packed!
The trophy has just been brought out.
It is made in two halves designed by artists in both nations. Its held together by magnets, representing two separate rugby cultures drawn together by the rivalry.
The clever bit: if the four-Test series is drawn, the trophy splits in two and each team takes a half.
The name of the tour might be self aggrandising, but it deserves it.
This goes back a while. South Africa and New Zealand first met in 1921, and for much of the 20th century each measured itself against the other. In fact this contest was dubbed the unofficial world championship before the World Cup.
The Boks dominated the early decades; the All Blacks finally won a series in South Africa in 1996.
Since then the rivalry has produced World Cup finals, Ellis Park epics, infamous tours and enough mutual suspicion to sustain a century of needle.
There’s been a minor war of words over the pace of the game.
All Blacks assistant coach Tana Umaga fired the first shot: “We want to speed the game up. It’s very frustrating for us when teams are visibly trying to slow it down.” He added that rugby needs to decide “what kind of game we want to play, in terms of globally.”
Rassie Erasmus was having none of it. “There are always three truths – New Zealand’s truth, the world’s truth, and our truth,” he said, pointing to the frenetic Tests between the sides in Auckland and Wellington last year which the Boks won by a record margin.
And his basic message was simple: “When they have the ball, they’ve got total control of what they do with the ball and when we have the ball, we’ve got total control of what we do with it. We can’t tell each other what you must do with the ball.”
So that’s one little subplot for referee Matthew Carley to deal with this afternoon.
Just had a good friend with a sharp rugby mind suggest I publish this:
34-28 ABs.
Phew, now I’m nervous.
If I have to make a prediction I’ll say Boks to win by six points with four tries to three.
Some reading while we wait courtesy of Gerard and yours truly:
A quick tale of the tape:
All Blacks v Springboks: 110 Tests – New Zealand 63 wins, South Africa 43, four draws.
At Ellis Park: 16 Tests – South Africa 10 wins, New Zealand six.
This is the 13th Test series between the sides. The series ledger is 5-5, with two draws.
Together they have won seven of 10 World Cups: South Africa four, New Zealand three.
New Zealand team
Richie Mo’unga is back in the wider squad but not yet in the matchday 23, which puts plenty of attention on Ruben Love.
The 25-year-old has been Dave Rennie’s first-choice flyhalf through the Nations Championship and keeps the shirt for the biggest test of his fledgling international career. He’ll have the returning Cam Roigard inside him and Damian McKenzie behind him, giving New Zealand three genuine playmakers.
Will Jordan is also back from injury on the wing, while Ardie Savea returns to captain the side from No 8. The pack has plenty of size but this will be a serious examination of Josh Lord and Fabian Holland against Eben Etzebeth and Ruan Nortje.
Keep an eye on Josh Moorby, too. The winger has only two Test caps and could expect plenty of traffic with Cheslin Kolbe and Damian Willemse lurking on his side of the field.
New Zealand: 15 Damian McKenzie; 14 Will Jordan, 13 Quinn Tupaea, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Josh Moorby; 10 Ruben Love, 9 Cam Roigard; 1 Ethan de Groot, 2 Codie Taylor, 3 Tyrel Lomax, 4 Josh Lord, 5 Fabian Holland, 6 Tupou Vaa’i, 7 Luke Jacobson, 8 Ardie Savea (c).
Replacements: 16 Asafo Aumua, 17 George Bower, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Simon Parker, 20 Peter Lakai, 21 Kyle Preston, 22 Anton Lienert-Brown, 23 Leroy Carter.
South Africa team
There’s no Siya Kolisi, but this is a team stacked with double World Cup winners.
Damian de Allende wins his 100th cap for the Boks in midfield.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is fit enough to start at flyhalf where he’ll form a dynamic half-back partnership with the electric Grant Williams.
Keep an eye on Paul de Villiers in the 6 jersey. It’s been a while since the Boks have had a genuine fetcher in the back row. He is cut from the same cloth as Heinrich Brussouw and could be crucial in stifling the All Blacks’ quick ball.
South Africa: 15 Damian Willemse; 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse; 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Grant Williams; 1 Ox Nche, 2 Malcolm Marx, 3 Wilco Louw, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 5 Ruan Nortje, 6 Paul de Villiers, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit (c), 8 Jasper Wiese.
Replacements: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp , 18 Zachary Porthen , 19 Cobus Wiese, 20 Andre Esterhuizen, 21 Marco van Staden, 22 Cobus Reinach, 23 Manie Libbok.
Preamble
Daniel Gallan
Some sporting contests are poorly named.
Teams from only two nations compete for the World Series in baseball. It’s up for debate whether the English top flight is the premier football league in the world.
There is no doubt with this one.
The rivalry between South Africa and New Zealand really is the greatest in men’s rugby union.
With a few fallow years, the All Blacks and Springboks have sat at the top of the sport’s pyramid over the past century. They share 70% of all World Cups contested and are the two most marketable brands in the game. One famous tussle in 1995 even inspired a blockbuster Hollywood movie.
But the gears of capitalism care little for sentiment and the pull of euros, pounds and yen have caused some angst among the beancounters in Cape Town and Auckland. So, in order to profit on what they have, the honchos have come up with this: Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry.
Whatever the motivations, this promises to be nothing short of epic. Dave Rennie’s side look like the All Blacks of old and Rassie Erasmus has already forged one of the great dynasties in all sport. This four-Test series, a year out from a World Cup, would be a major feather in the cap and everyone knows it.
The Boks will start as favourites. They’ve won four of the past five meetings with New Zealand, including the 2023 World Cup final, and last year handed the All Blacks a 43-10 hiding in Wellington. They’re also playing in front of their own fans (at least until the fourth Test in Baltimore, USA).
But the tourists are primed and ready. I’m primed and ready. The rugby world is primed and ready. The time for talk is over. Let’s settle this 105-year-old debate.
Kick at Ellis Park in Johannesburg at 5:10 local time, 4:10 BST.
Teams and more updates to come.