Chris Latham has challenged the branding of this year’s Springbok-All Blacks series, insisting Australia – not South Africa – are New Zealand’s greatest rugby rivals.
The four-Test “Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry” series has replaced this year’s Rugby Championship, but Latham believes the honour still belongs to the long-standing trans-Tasman battle.
“It’s very, very disappointing,” Former Wallabies fullback said. “New Zealand’s at its strongest when Australia’s at its strongest and Australia’s at its strongest when New Zealand’s at its strongest.
“That’s been the case for as long as I can remember, before I even started playing.”
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Latham argued that history and geography make the Wallabies and All Blacks natural rivals.
“Every country has its rival, its nemesis, a team they go toe-to-toe with that pushes the boundaries of where they can get to,” he said. “For us and for New Zealand that’s each other.
“Now, you can sit there and argue from a New Zealand point of view and a South African point of view that they see it in their own one [rivalry].
“But when you put tradition into it, when you put the values of what rugby is about, when you put the cost of what it is to travel, to put games on and things like that, you’ve got to be smart.”
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Latham acknowledged that commercial considerations were driving decisions in the modern game, but said shelving the Rugby Championship in favour of the Springbok-All Blacks series was disappointing.
“At the end of the day, decisions are made from a monetary point of view,” he said. “But us and New Zealand are the closest neighbours each has got, so it’s sad.”
Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
The post Ex-Wallaby: Boks aren’t All Blacks’ biggest rivals appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Chris Latham has challenged the branding of this year’s Springbok-All Blacks series, insisting Australia – not South Africa – are New Zealand’s greatest rugby rivals.
The post Ex-Wallaby: Boks aren’t All Blacks’ biggest rivals appeared first on SA Rugby magazine. Read More
