Smoke and mirrors fill the vacuum as Springboks and All Blacks brace for battle

South Africa welcome New Zealand for their Greatest Rivalry series with the suspicion that they plan on beating the tourists at their own game

The problem with Test weeks is that they can feel long. Cricketers can play for days on end, footballers every few nights, but rugby players step on to the international stage for just 80 minutes per week. The result is a drawn-out vacuum in the buildup and if it’s not a “war of words” unfolding, it tends to be head coaches ramming home their points to the referee.

We lap it up, of course we do as we wait for Saturday to come, and though the pre-match sparring between South Africa and New Zealand is tedious to some, it is all part of the fun to others. This week in Johannesburg has been lively without crossing the line into poisonous. Suffice it to say that the referee Matt Carley is in for one hell of an afternoon in Saturday’s series opener at Ellis Park but the very fact that both Rassie Erasmus and Dave Rennie have stepped on to the offensive demonstrates the magnitude of the coming four-Test series. It promises to be a barn-burner.

The All Blacks’ position is the more straightforward of the two. They want to play at speed, and Rennie and his assistant Tana Umaga have made that clear in public appearances this week in a not-so-subtle attempt to put pressure on Carley. Rennie’s replacements bench – sacrificing a back-up lock for two loose forwards in Peter Lakai and Anton Segner – only underlines the intention to play at a tempo for 80 minutes that they believe the Springboks cannot live with.

That South Africa came over the top in response is no surprise – Erasmus relishes the chance to fill the vacuum – with the former referee turned adviser Jaco Peyper up first, insisting the Springboks are anything but slow, before the assistant coach Felix Jones, who has a reputation for forensic analysis, detailed how New Zealand had been guilty of “tucking shoulders” and “pulling, lifting of legs” in rucks and mauls during tour matches against the South African provinces.

The use of the word “brutal” felt deliberate, before he hammered home his point by highlighting that World Rugby’s priority is safety. Erasmus got in on the act, too, accusing New Zealand of “preaching”, which is not entirely wide of the mark.

On the face of it, this is simply both sides brazenly attempting to eke out an advantage, though Carley is the one who bears the brunt. Penalise the Springboks’ lumbering forwards for slowing the ball down too much and he will be pilloried in South Africa. Deny the All Blacks the quick ball they insist upon as if their birthright and he will be hammered in New Zealand.

To view things through that lens, however, is to buy into the narrative that has formed, pitching roundheads against cavaliers. But it is reductive. It ignores the fact that New Zealand’s set piece is perennially underrated and, while South Africa’s forward muscle will inevitably have a major bearing on the series, with Tony Brown running the attack, the Springboks are able to win Test matches in any manner of ways.

What’s more, while South Africa’s return of fire was no surprise, the sheer weight of the volley was, which means one of two things. Either Erasmus is genuinely worried by the pace at which New Zealand are threatening to play, or he is protesting too much. The lurking suspicion is the latter.

Erasmus has been filling the vacuum with smoke and mirrors. South Africa have won five of the past six meetings with New Zealand, including the 2023 World Cup final. The transformation in this fixture since the All Blacks racked up 57 points in consecutive victories in 2016 and 2017 has long been complete. New Zealand may be reinvigorated under Rennie – they play as if they have their mojo back and can lay claim to being the Springboks’ closest challengers on the world stage – but they do not arrive for this series as equals. South Africa have won the past two World Cups and have continued to find new ways of stretching the gap to the chasing pack.

What better way then, just a year before the next World Cup, to stress their advantage than by beating the All Blacks at their own game, to bring a speed and a tempo that outstrip New Zealand’s when the watching world is expecting a reliance on the set piece and tactics designed to frustrate Rennie’s side.

It is the hallmark of the very best teams to identify their opponents’ strength as the area of the game at which to take them on and, as debate rages over where this South Africa team sits in the pantheon, what a statement it would be to do so on Saturday.

Certainly, Erasmus has the players for it. He is without his captain, Siya Kolisi – South Africa taking a “precautionary approach” with their talisman – but his replacement, Paul de Villiers, demonstrated what a dynamic runner he is in July’s Nations Championship. In Grant Williams and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Erasmus has a pair of half-backs primed to mesmerise and New Zealand need no reminding of how potent a back three of Cheslin Kolbe, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Damian Willemse can be.

For all that recent history is against them, however, there is a confidence to the All Blacks. The Stormers gave them a game for an hour in their tour opener but the Sharks and Bulls have been brushed aside and Rennie is canny enough to avoid allowing such depowered opposition to leave his side undercooked. Ruben Love looks the part in the No 10 jersey while New Zealand are boosted by Damian McKenzie’s return from injury but, most of all, under Rennie the All Blacks look to have clarity again, the fog of confusion that descended over much of Scott Robertson’s tenure has dissipated.

Put simply, the All Blacks have gone back to what they are good at – hence the insistence they want to play at speed. Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry is steeped in history but the latest instalment will be unmissable if the Springboks do too.