South Africans are supposed to care about the All Blacks more than this. On Tuesday night 14,759 people dotted the 52,000-seat Kings Park Stadium to watch New Zealand dismantle the Sharks 54-0. Durban was cold and soaked, with snow falling elsewhere in KwaZulu-Natal, but even allowing for the weather it made for an awkward advertisement for a grand new project.
Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry – the eight-match tour by New Zealand, culminating in four Tests, including one in the US – is an attempt to turn more than a century of history into a modern commercial property. The unions have formed a 50-50 venture, sharing commercial income, while taking the final Test to Baltimore is expected to generate $4m-$6m more than another game in South Africa. Both unions need the money and professional sport is supposed to generate revenue. But a rivalry cannot live on branding alone.
The early South African response to these All Blacks has been respectful without being reverential. More than 47,000 watched their opening 38-21 win against the Stormers in Cape Town, but there was little sense that an irresistible force had arrived. The contest was level after 65 minutes, New Zealand’s scrum and maul were troubled and four late tries gave the score an emphatic gloss.
Tuesday offered a different picture. The Sharks were desperately depleted, but the scale of their defeat still carried a thud. New Zealand scored eight tries and added 40 points after half-time in conditions that ought to have made handling difficult. South Africa’s Daily Maverick called it “vintage class”. For the first time, the All Blacks looked like the team the marketing promised.
Yet it is difficult to imagine Rassie Erasmus losing much sleep. For generations, the arrival of the All Blacks in South Africa came with a particular menace. Between the 1995 World Cup final and Erasmus taking charge, in 2018, New Zealand’s win-rate in the Republic was 68.2%. They claimed a 2-1 series win in 1996, won by 36 points in Pretoria in 2003 and by a record 42 points in Durban in 2016.
That deference has gone. South Africa have won four of the past five meetings, including the 2023 World Cup final, and last year handed the All Blacks a 43-10 hiding in Wellington. The Springboks are back-to-back world champions. The question is no longer whether they can live with the All Blacks. It is how much further they can pull away.
Perhaps there is some insecurity buried in all this. South Africa and New Zealand sit far from the traditional centres of global power, two countries shaped differently by an empire that has long since receded. Rugby offers a rare chance to look at the rest of the world from above.
In South Africa, the All Blacks are woven into the national mythology: Nelson Mandela in the No 6 jersey means more because Jonah Lomu and New Zealand were standing on the other side. Remove the All Blacks and something in the Springbok mythology loses its meaning. Being the best matters. Being better than the All Blacks matters more.
This is where Erasmus has excelled. He keeps moving the finish line. Eight years ago, his job was simply to make the Springboks competitive again. Then came the boxes. Beat the All Blacks in New Zealand. Tick. Win the Rugby Championship. Tick. Win the World Cup. Tick. Beat the British & Irish Lions. Tick. Defend the World Cup. Another tick. Complete one checklist and Erasmus simply finds another.
Since 2023, that has meant proving South Africa are more than a team built to peak at World Cups. They won the 2024 Rugby Championship and have broadened their rugby without surrendering the violence that made them champions. Damian Willemse can shift between full-back and first receiver, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu threatens the line and Cheslin Kolbe goes looking for work. Two Test-class front rows allow Erasmus to replace almost an entire pack without surrendering scrum pressure. They can cut teams apart as readily as bludgeon them.
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Which invites comparison with the last great dynasty. Richie McCaw’s All Blacks won the 2011 and 2015 World Cups and lost only three Tests between them. Their greatness lay not merely in winning twice when it mattered most, but in dominating the years in between. The Springboks have matched their two World Cups and next year will attempt to go one better. What they have not yet matched is the sustained supremacy over their greatest rival that made those All Blacks feel untouchable. The next four Tests offer the chance.
Which is why South Africa should want these All Blacks to find another gear. This series, due to return in New Zealand in four years’ time, needs a contest worthy of its name. So does South Africa’s idea of itself as rugby’s dominant power. Sweeping aside a faded force proves rather less.
For decades the Springboks chased New Zealand. Erasmus has caught them and passed them. One box remains. Tick it and this team may have the strongest claim yet to being the greatest of all time.