Questions have been asked in the past few years about whether Australia are still a worthy adversary. A once intense rivalry has lost its edge. Australia turn up and the All Blacks know if they play well, they will win. In their last 10 outings against the All Blacks, Australia have drawn twice and won once.
The Boks have lost eight of their last 10 against the All Blacks -- but somehow it is different.
The All Blacks have never lost their respect for South Africa: they have never believed they are facing anything other than a ruthless and supremely drilled opponent.
Results haven't come for the Boks but that hasn't diminished any sense of occasion or lessened the enormity of the task the All Blacks face every time they play them.
All Black coach Steve Hansen wanted to make that clear yesterday. It's obvious that within the All Black camp, the focus is more intense this week. The nerves are tingling and the players are aware they face their toughest 80 minutes of the season so far tomorrow night.
"I don't think there is any difference in the preparation," said Hansen. "I think this group prepares really well most of the time. But there is an excitement -- no doubt about that.
"We love playing the South Africans; we have got a lot of respect for them. I have a huge amount of respect for their coach. I think he is a good coach and a good man. Their captain Jean [de Villiers], having his 100th game, I'd like to congratulate him on that. That is a marvellous achievement, especially when you see how he started his career.
"He has shown a lot of character and I think they have that character right throughout their team. I was lucky enough to spend time with a number of them in the Barbarians over the last couple of years and I have really enjoyed their company."
What sets the South Africans apart, say the All Blacks, is their physicality and respect for the core skills of the game.
Nothing comes easily against South Africa and while the All Blacks have won eight of the last 10, they have had to scrap to the death in nearly all of them. There was the epic encounter at Ellis Park last year; the dramatic late finish in Soweto three years earlier when the All Blacks scored two tries in the last four minutes, and even the games where there has been a bit of daylight on the scoreboard have taken the All Blacks to the edge of their capabilities.
"I don't think there has been much in it at all," says Hansen of the margin between the teams. "The Auckland game [All Blacks 29-15 at Eden Park last year], everyone afterwards felt that South Africa would have won it if Bismarck [du Plessis ] hadn't been red-carded ... I'm not so sure about that. And the one in Joburg [All Blacks won 38-27] we all know that was just a splendid test and either side could have won that."
Much of the intrigue about the Wellington test lies in the approach South Africa will take having dropped Morne Steyn and selected Handrie Pollard at first-five.
South African coach Heyneke Meyer has said he's looking to develop his side's ability to play wider and at a faster tempo and that young Pollard is the better architect in that regard.
There's a feeling he could be bluffing -- that the Springboks will persevere with their lower risk, kick-chase game. But Hansen sees the prospect of them opening up as genuine.
"They are developing a number of styles. The style they played against us in Joburg was fantastic. But they have also got the ability to hide the ball up their jumper and use all their big men and that makes them pretty combative to play against as you don't know what you are going to get other than physicality.
"Either way it is going to be tough and you wouldn't want it any other way. The harder the challenge the more fun it is."
- By Gregor Paul of the New Zealand Herald
