All Blacks ready for 'unique' South African challenge
SPOTLIGHT: Codie Joshua Dane Taylor, All Black #1143, is grateful that a six-year wait to experience the unique brand of rugby South African teams provide has finally come to an end.
Taylor, the All Black tour captain for Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series, admitted “it sucks” that SA teams are no longer part of Super Rugby.
But he is excited to renew the historic rivalry on the 2026 trip.
As stand-in skipper, he said he loved the physicality and the challenge of South African sides.
Testing himself against “big, physical men” and elite, powerful set-piece sides will become a reality in the next six weeks.
Their tour starts against the Stormers in Cape Town on Friday.
Taylor admitted that the loss of South African teams cost New Zealand dearly.
“Undoubtedly it sucks not being able to come over here for Super Rugby,” Taylor said at a media briefing in Cape Town.
“I used to love these tours, love the contests that we have against all the teams.
“It’s a different brand of rugby to what we get back home, and you get a taste of it when you come over here.
“Big, physical men, great set-piece sides, but then also backs that can burn you pretty quick.”
(Article continues below the Codie Taylor interview…)
The Kiwis head into the series unbeaten after three Nations Championship victories, over France, Italy and Ireland, in New Zealand under new boss Dave Rennie.
“It started with those three weeks back home,” he said of the build-up to the Greatest Rivalry tour.
“It is unique for us,” he said of the six-week, eight-match tour, the first time in 30 years a New Zealand national team had undertaken an extended trip to the Republic.
“We’ve got a bigger squad for the midweek games.
“It’s going to be tough, but at the same time it allows everyone to work on our game heading into the Test matches,” Taylor added.
“It’s all new for this team, but the standards are so high.
“Coach Dave [Rennie] has been driving it really well.”
Being on the road is not the only challenge for the visitors from Aotearoa.
“We know how much South Africans get up for their home matches.
“It is going to be a great challenge.
“There’s physicality, South Africa has a great set piece, and they have great depth in their squad.”
The 35-year-old hooker said the ‘welcome to country’ event at the Cape Town stadium was amazing, with more than four thousand black-clad fans inside the Greenpoint venue.
“I knew we had fans here,” he said, adding: “I didn’t expect so many people to turn up.”
As tour captain, he will pick up a lot of the slack till on-field captain Ardie Savea arrives later this month.
“I’m just taking that role on while Ardie isn’t here,” the veteran hooker said.
“It’s a huge privilege to lead a group of men as we have, and when Ardie gets back, he’ll have that belt again, and rightly so.
“But Ardie’s been playing a lot of rugby over the last I don’t know how long, 18 months or so, so he deserves a break.
“We’ve got a massive calendar that we’re working into this year, and I don’t think it starts any harder than coming to play South Africa and the club teams here.”
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