While Australia have been the dominant force in international rugby league for more than three decades now, the Kiwis have bridged the once large disparity between No.1 and No.2 - never more so than with their 2008 World Cup triumph.
Only once since the inception of the Tri-Nations in 1999 - which became the Four Nations last year - have Australia beaten the Kiwis twice in the one tournament, a period which also includes two World Cups.
And the difficulty of beating New Zealand in back-to-back games is not lost on Kangaroos coach Tim Sheens, with Australia to face the Kiwis in Auckland on Saturday in the last game of the preliminary round of the Four Nations before the two teams meet again in the final in Brisbane a week later.
"The challenge is to be able to beat them and beat them again in the final - that's the difficult thing," Sheens said.
"We saw that in 08, when they got beat in the (preliminary rounds of) the World Cup and they came out and beat Australia up there in the final and they'll have memories of that.
"It's a big challenge to be able to win the two games."
In 1999 the Kiwis won the opening match of the Tri- Nations 24-22 before Australia rebounded to take the final in another close one, 22-20.
The two sides only met once during the 2000 World Cup in a game in which Australia cantered to a 40-12 victory, but when the Tri-Nations resumed in 2004, New Zealand again caught the Kangaroos on the hop with a 16-all draw in the opening game.
A year later the Kiwis beat Australia twice in the tournament, 38-28 in the first game and the memorable 24-0 thumping in the final.
Australia won all three games the two teams played in the 2006 event to regain the last ever Tri-Nations trophy contested, though they did need golden point to prevail 16-12 in the final.
In 2008 Australia trounced the Kiwis 30-6 in their group game before New Zealand celebrated their greatest rugby league triumph with a 34-20 upset in the final in Brisbane.
Then last year there was a 20-all draw in their only game of the inaugural Four Nations, the Kiwis failing to reach the final after a surprise loss to Great Britain.
