Mick Cleary: Opener brings new edge to old All Blacks v Springboks rivalry

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The All Blacks brand is back in business. So, too, is that of the Springboks. Both teams have been mobbed at hotel and training fields in Kashiwa and Fukuoka. Television crews clamour for their every appearance, microphones are poised to catch sound bites. New Zealand head coach Steven Hansen was moved to reveal after yet more gushing adulation that he was not "God, just a normal human being".

In Japan, these players are rock stars with studs on. New Zealand against South Africa is the most potent and deep-rooted rivalry in rugby. The behemoths are in town, ready to face off on Saturday night in Yokohama, a pool match in name only. It is the sort of contest this World Cup needs; a game that will resonate beyond the confines of the tournament itself.

"It's the test match every kid wants to play in," said All Blacks lock Sam Whitelock yesterday at the team base in downtown Tokyo following a morning training session. "Some of my greatest memories are when I was a little fellow waking in the middle of the night to watch those matches."

Rugby is as guilty of fixture overload as any sport. These two rugby tribes used to be kept apart for five or six years at a time between series, licking wounds, nursing grievances, harbouring grudges.

These days, through the annual Rugby Championship, familiarity has bred a certain weariness. This Saturday, though, is different.

Whatever the merits of Italy, Namibia and Canada in pool B, the two countries will almost certainly qualify for the knockout stages. But there will be a notch on the belt for the winner; a pat on the shoulder for the inner man to bolster the psyche for future times.

It has always been this way. New Zealand have become far more conspicuous since the game went professional — buffed and boosted by marketing executives. The glitz, though, has substance and the All Blacks became by far the stronger entity, overturning South Africa's long-held advantage.

Pre-professionalism in the mid-1990s, the Boks led the series 21-18. New Zealand took until 1956 to win their first series against the South Africans. The last meeting between the sides had been in 1949, when New Zealand had been beaten 4-0; their manhood questioned as the Springboks scrum drove them into the ground. Seven years later, there was fear of a repeat humiliation if the All Blacks did not stand toe-to-toe with their great rivals. New Zealand won the series 3-1, with recalled prop and former national heavyweight boxing champion Kevin Skinner entering rugby folklore.

Hansen and Whitelock are both acutely aware of the special nature of Saturday's encounter.

"This is a massive match because it has always traditionally been so," said Hansen.

"There's a big box of chocolates at the end of the week, but you can't eat them now on Monday or there will be none left by the weekend.

"You can't play it too early in the week. Everything this week has got to be short, sharp and proverbially hot. The older guys know what is coming."