The All Blacks know what is coming. Forwards coach Jason Ryan this week described the bus ride into Ellis Park, weaving past the hundreds of braais lining the streets, and greeted by certain hand gestures and some beer cans hitting the windows, as “pretty feral”. Kieran Read, in a recent video reflecting on the All Blacks’ 2013 win at the ground, described the Springbok supporters that day as “maniacs”.
The great New Zealand scrum-half Justin Marshall this week recalled arriving for one game with the Springbok fans rocking the All Blacks’ bus from side to side. “Where the hell do you get that anywhere else in the world? I don’t think you can ever prepare for that, I don’t think anyone can tell you what it’s going to be like, you just simply have to have the composure and the focus to turn up in a hostile environment and make sure you’re not intimidated by it,” he told The Platform. Ellis Park is a cauldron, and it plays host again on Saturday to the greatest rivalry in the men’s game.
Sure, you can argue that other match-ups have a deeper history, like “Le Crunch”, or the bad blood between England and Wales, not forgetting the great Bledisloe Cup Tests of the 1990s and 2000s. Yet there is an easy answer to why New Zealand against South Africa deserves top billing: Rugby World Cup titles. South Africa now have four, New Zealand three, comfortably more than the rest of the world combined. And the sides have not played each other since meeting in last year’s World Cup final.
When it comes to the Springboks against the All Blacks at Ellis Park it is hard to find a dud, with South Africa’s largest rugby ground famous for low-flying jumbo jets at the end of Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika and for hosting the 1995 World Cup final. Think Nelson Mandela and Joel Stransky’s dropped goal and the All Blacks’ food poisoning.
When New Zealand arrived in Johannesburg two years ago, for their first Test at South Africa’s biggest ground since 2015, they had been well beaten 26-10 by South Africa the previous week in Mbombela and the suggestion was they were in for a hiding. The resulting 35-23 win, in which the All Blacks impressed with their physicality at the set-piece and breakdown, was one of the finest results they produced under Ian Foster, up there with the quarter-final victory over Ireland in Paris.
There has been an abundance of Ellis Park classics. Pat Lambie’s heart-stopper of a late penalty to clinch victory in 2014, a stunner given that the All Blacks were then at the peak of their powers, winning at Ellis Park in 2013 and 2015. Marius Joubert’s hat-trick in 2004 blew New Zealand away, while highlights of the 2000 meeting — a wild 46-40 win for South Africa — include the late Chester Williams scoring the opening try in his first start for South Africa since the 1995 final, plus some usual wizardry from Christian Cullen as New Zealand fought back from 33-13 down.
Which is all before considering the nuances of Saturday’s Test. South Africa this year should really win their first six-game Rugby Championship title since 2009 — they won a truncated version in 2019 before the World Cup — even with a glut of injuries at lock and having mixed up their selections. Past critics of their lack of ambition are being silenced by a greater appetite to attack and the gradual development of a number of young guns ahead of the 2027 World Cup, including Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu at fly-half.
Meanwhile, the All Blacks are coming off their best performance under Scott Robertson – the thrashing of Argentina at Eden Park, the expected response after losing to Los Pumas in Wellington. Robertson won one of his many Super Rugby titles at Ellis Park with the Crusaders in 2017, but the Test landscape is different. The pressure on New Zealand’s scrum, missing one of their best in Ethan de Groot, feels seismic.
Here is a remarkable set of statistics which underline just how good this fixture at Ellis Park has been since South Africa were readmitted to the international game back in 1992. Both sides have won five Tests each. South Africa have scored 286 points including 30 tries, New Zealand 287 with 31 tries.
If rugby has a fixture that is appointment viewing, it is surely South Africa against New Zealand at Ellis Park. Do not miss it.