All Blacks v Springboks: Return of big tours can revitalise rugby - Editorial

Opinion

Every year, the sugar-rush hit of two test matches between the All Blacks and the Springboks stirs the buzz for the many New Zealanders who grew up with generational addiction to this fixture.

The hit is not quite as deep and gratifying as the ones that our grandparents experienced in the 1956 series, but it’s real enough. The two tests won’t match the sustained highs that 1965 and 1970 served up, but they get us through the winter.

And you know what they say about the 1981 tour: If you can remember it with a smile then you weren’t really there.

Real addicts can still get a tingle, just by muttering the words “Pretoria 1996″.

Tomorrow morning, the All Blacks and the Springboks will play out another of the encounters that have for more than a century set the benchmark for great rugby. Since they first met at Carisbrook, in Dunedin, in 1921, these test matches have regularly been more intense, better fought and more entertaining than those of any other rivalry in rugby.

Clashes with other rugby sides will often provide high-quality spectacle, but this is the one fixture that consistently delivers to the highest standard.

Many of the best players to ever feature in the sport built their reputations in these clashes. The significance of the fixture is boosted by the fact the excellent (and often brutal) on-field clashes have been matched by weighty off-field drama.

It’s difficult to think of any sporting code that can match All Blacks v Springboks as a sporting occasion. Sports fans in New Zealand and South Africa are fortunate to have a connection to this clash as a remarkable birthright.

Inevitably the matches have improved in quality since rugby turned professional in 1996: players are fitter, and skill levels and scorelines are higher.

But as the players’ aerobic capacity has increased, so too has the frequency of the matches. From their first encounter in 1921, it took more than 28 years for the two sides to complete 14 matches; by the time tomorrow’s match has been played the most recent 14 games will have been ticked off within seven years (and that’s with no matches played in 2020, courtesy of Covid-19).

Familiarity here might not breed full-blown contempt, but complacency is on the cards.

Which is why fans should be excited by the return of extended tours between the Boks and the All Blacks. It’s a chance to reconnect with the pure rush of the game.

Rugby bosses in both nations have agreed a deal that will launch tours between the two sides every four years, beginning in 2026. These three-test series will be rounded off with a further match played at a neutral venue, in an effort to keep revenue flowing.

All Blacks coach Scott Robertson – whose men will hope to reverse last week’s late flop that led to a 31-27 defeat – knows how much bigger tours would mean.

“It’s a throwback in time and it’s what you need right now in world rugby,” he told ZB yesterday.

Boks v All Blacks in Chicago might not get the juices flowing, but watching the old foe get knocked about on a six-week haul through regional New Zealand will get new generations of Kiwis hooked on this special thrill.

Springboks v All Blacks: Follow the match at nzherald.co.nz, and tune in for live commentary on Newstalk ZB, GOLD SPORT & iHeartRadio