Winning the first game of Rugby's Greatest Rivalry will be a massive boost for the All Blacks or Springboks.
All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie during the teams media opportunity at Sandton Convention Centre on Thursday. Picture: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images
Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry (RGR) Test series will officially launch with the opening Test at Ellis Park on Saturday evening (kick-off 5:10pm), and both coaches, New Zealand’s Dave Rennie and South Africa’s Rassie Erasmus, are eager to get off to a winning start.
The All Blacks in particular will want to start off on a winning note, as they will know just how hard it will be to claw their way back into the series being played in South Africa, although the final Test will be played in the USA.
Luckily for the visitors, Ellis Park is also the ground they last beat the Springboks at in South Africa, back in 2022, with them going into that match in poor form and under pressure, having suffered a 26-10 loss in Mbombela a week earlier, only for them to upset the odds and win 35-23.
At the All Blacks team announcement on Thursday Rennie admitted that winning the first Test was important, but that there would still be plenty to play for after with three more Tests to follow.
“It will help, wouldn’t it? I guess whoever doesn’t win the first Test will say it doesn’t matter because we’ve still got three to go. I’m sure both sides want to start well. We see this being a really tough tour, so drawing first blood would help,” explained Rennie.
“There’ll be times where it’s an arm-wrestle. But you have to dig in. We want to play when it’s on to play. We’ll need to bar up for a large chunk of it. It’s Test footy, and we know the Springboks will ask a lot of us.”
Tough task
Beating the Springboks in South Africa is an incredibly tough task for any team, and it will be even more so when considering the form the Boks have been in against the All Blacks, winning five of their last six encounter, and Rennie is well aware of the enormity of the task at hand.
“I’m not going to try and heap that on them and play mind games (highlight the pressure of needing to win at home). But I’m sure they’re excited to play at home in front of a sold-out crowd. We’re excited to play there as well. It’s one of the toughest challenges in rugby, so we’ll embrace that,” said Rennie.
“It’s such a big challenge, but we’re loving it. We’re working hard, we’re connecting really well, and we’ve got a lot of great people, players and staff. It’s important that we enjoy the week.”
Following this weekend’s clash in Johannesburg the action moves onto Cape Town next weekend, before returning to Joburg for the third Test at the FNB Stadium, with both teams then hoping on a plane and heading for the US where the final Test will be battled out in Baltimore.
