The All Blacks are rediscovering their identity under Dave Rennie, setting the stage for a blockbuster Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series, writes CLINTON VAN DER BERG.
Something is stirring in New Zealand rugby.
After five years in which the idea of the All Blacks needing rescuing would have sounded like heresy, the old beast is showing signs of life again, and the timing could not be better.
Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry, the storied series revived this August after a 30-year hiatus, is about to get the resurgent opponent it deserves, just as South Africa has quietly, ruthlessly, built an empire of its own.
The numbers tell a brutal story. Last September, the Springboks inflicted the heaviest defeat in All Blacks history, a 43-10 mauling in Wellington that exposed a team stripped of certainty.
By January, the fallout claimed a head coach: Scott Robertson, sacked two years into a four-year deal after a 10-3 season that included a first-ever loss to Argentina on Argentinian soil.
Dave Rennie now picks through the wreckage, tasked with rebuilding a culture and a game plan.
South Africa, meanwhile, have done the opposite, having turned crisis into conquest. Back-to-back World Cups. A win rate that keeps improving. A pack that regenerates itself, injury after injury, without ever losing its teeth. Where New Zealand once treated dominance as birthright, South Africa have made it a discipline.
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But something has stirred in Rennie’s first month. Three Tests, three wins: France ground out, Italy blown away, and then Ireland flattened at Eden Park behind a forward pack rebuilt for size and menace.
The scratchy, brittle All Blacks of the Robertson years have been replaced by something harder-edged: direct, physical, unapologetic, like the All Blacks of old. It’s the mongrel that made New Zealand rugby fearsome in the first place, and it’s back just in time.
That timing matters enormously, because rugby needs New Zealand strong. Not weakened, not humbled, not rebuilding in the shadows, just strong. This rivalry is built on two nations who have delivered more than a century of drama, two World Cup finals, and a rugby culture each so fierce it defines the other by opposition. South Africa’s greatness has always been measured against New Zealand’s brilliance. Take the All Blacks out of their pomp, and the Springboks’ achievements risk losing their sharpest edge, the mirror that makes the triumph mean something.
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That’s what makes next month’s four-Test series more than nostalgia. It is Rennie’s proving ground and Erasmus’ ultimate examination, 30 years since the All Blacks last toured South Africa in full.
New Zealand arrive with real form and a rediscovered snarl, not just hope.
With the mongrel and the might back in the All Blacks’ game, the sport finally has what it needs – a battle worth having.
Who will win the four-Test Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series?
Photo: Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images
The post Boks beware: All Blacks on the rise appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
The All Blacks are rediscovering their identity under Dave Rennie, setting the stage for a blockbuster Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series.
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