A decade after Richie McCaw last lifted the Webb Ellis Cup, British rugby writers at the Times newspaper have declared that All Blacks side to be a greater team than the modern Springboks.
However, some of the writers declared Sean Fitzpatrick’s side of 1996 the finest ever.
Rugby correspondent Alex Lowe said: “The world has never seen a forward pack as fearsome as the unit that powered South Africa to successive World Cup triumphs”. However, he ultimately tipped his hat to McCaw’s men.
“But for all-round class and utter dominance of an era, the back-to-back All Blacks who peaked in 2015 remain the greatest team,” he said.
The newspaper’s chief sports writer, Owen Slot, is wishy-washy on the subject.
“This is what happens when you compare two great sides: you start by going with the 2015 All Blacks. Obviously. Because they are stacked with royalty, players we now refer to only by their Christian names.“
But he points out that Steve Hansen’s World Cup winners featured stars “at the end of their careers, not at their peak”.
“And the Springboks would do them up front, you can’t get away from that. Plus, they have a ‘bomb squad’, more strength in depth all round, and if they can’t win it one way, they can change game plan and try it another.”
Having not seen the 1971 British & Irish Lions, Slot says the 1996 All Blacks were the greatest team of all time. He points out that John Hart’s men “won three tests in successive Saturdays away in South Africa” and “should have won the 1995 World Cup final but now had Christian Cullen at No 15, Justin Marshall at 9 and weren’t suffering from food poisoning”.
“Their back three must be the finest ever (Cullen, Jonah Lomu, Jeff Wilson), their back row arguably too (Michael Jones, Josh Kronfeld, Zinzan Brooke), and that’s before you even get to Frank Bunce and Walter Little, and a captain called Sean Fitzpatrick.”
The deputy rugby correspondent, Will Kelleher, says: “New Zealand had that unbeatable feel, and when they lost, it seemed like a world event.
“The 2011-15 All Blacks stand alone, in my mind, as rugby’s greatest team. Their 92% win ratio over that period, which included only three defeats, will surely be unmatched in the future of the modern game.”
Seasoned Kiwi-baiter Stephen Jones predictably takes a different stance.
“Those who slobber over the All Blacks would naturally claim that their 2015 team was better than the current Springboks side. They were not.”
He says the standard of top-flight teams was poor at the 2015 World Cup, making no comment about the shambolic state of the Home Unions in 2019 and 2023.
His assessment of one of the game’s greatest midfielders might raise the eyebrows of All Blacks fans. “South Africa’s best team would have seen them off up front and importantly, Damian de Allende and company would have seen off [Ma’a] Nonu – who was key to that All Black team – in the centre.“
Jones found time to fire a shot at the 2011 side (“it is still stunning how bad New Zealand were in the 2011 final against France”) before saying that the 1996 touring side was “the best New Zealand team” he had ever seen.
“They would be too clever for today’s South Africa if they met, by a three-point margin.”
It’s possible – just possible – that this is Stephen Jones acknowledging Fitzpatrick’s side was the best ever.
Columnist Stuart Barnes, a vocal critic of Ian Foster’s coaching leading into the last World Cup, bows to the All Blacks, saying: “New Zealand sneak the Springboks as the greatest World Cup side – to date.“
But he also issues a stark warning.
“Forget 2019 and 2023, the definitive Springboks will peak in Australia two years from now.”
However, he is another to look to the past. “But are they the greatest of all test teams? No, I would take either the 1996 All Blacks or the 1974 Lions.”