VIDEO: The 'long shot' and the 'certainty' of the greatest rivalry

It may be almost a year before they arrive on the shores of the Republic. Still, New Zealand’s first fully fledged tour to South Africa in three decades has evoked unprecedented interest in the ‘greatest rivalry’ in 2026.

Coaches and players alike have spoken with zeal about the just-confirmed voyage that harks back to the amateur days of the game.

There was a rare insight into the amazing bond that has been built up between Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus and his captain Siya Kolisi, during a media session to promote the ‘greatest rivalry’ tour of 2026.

As Kolisi spoke in stirring tones about possibly being part of the event, Erasmus quipped that Kolisi is a ‘long shot‘ of making the team.

Kolisi asked that the matter be ‘discussed’ during a one-on-one session (something that never takes place in an Erasmus-coached team), before both giggled and smiled.

However, they regaled the media with reasons to look forward to the newest event on an already crowded calendar.

RGR, an alternating quadrennial tour between South Africa and New Zealand, was confirmed on Thursday.

The venture marks a defining new chapter for the intense rivalry between the sport’s most successful and storied nations.

The rich history between the national teams of South Africa and New Zealand is well documented, going back more than a century.

The rivalry between the Springboks and All Blacks is considered the greatest in the sport, marked by intense competition between two historically dominant nations.

They have won seven of the 10 World Cups combined, and their history includes encounters that produced many legends and lore, dating back to The House of Pain, Carisbrook in Dunedin in 1921.

Then there were the infamous (1881) Flour Bomb Test and the 1986 rebel Cavaliers tour, not to forget the two greatest World Cup Finals – at Ellis Park in 1995 (15-12) and Stade de France in 2023 (12-11) won dramatically by the Boks.

Erasmus said one of the big positives is that you can get ‘very tight’ as a team going on tour.

“This one is big for us,” he said of the four-Test series against the All Blacks just a year out from defending their crown as back-to-back World Cup champions.

He said it will be good for team building and getting to know each other better as a group.

“Players will start to understand the coaches better,” Erasmus said, adding: “They will start to understand the culture of the country they are touring better.”

Having only made his Test debut against the British and Irish Lions in 1997, a year after the advent of professionalism, Erasmus has vivid memories of the brutal nature of the rivalry that marked the last four-Test series against the All Blacks in 1996.

Having lost to Australia and New Zealand in away matches in the Tri-Nations, followed by a Bok win over the Wallabies in Bloemfontein, the All Blacks put down a marker by winning the Tri-Nations with a 29-18 win at Newlands.

Then, with 1995 World Cup captain Francois Pienaar discarded, the two antagonists went head-to-head at Kingspark (a 23-19 squeaker by the All Blacks), Loftus Versfeld (where the Kiwis clinched the series with a 33-26 win), before the Boks recorded a consolation (32-22) victory at Ellis Park.

“I was much younger then and I know the game is fully professional now, but the players will enjoy the tour and the series,” he said of the tour , next year, ending three decades of one-off or two-match series.

“I am excited about this new venture,” the Bok coach added.

(WATCH as Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus and his captain Siya Kolisi give their views on the ‘greatest rivalry’ tour of 2026 and exchange some banter….)

Double World Cup-winning Bok skipper Siya Kolisi also spoke about the ‘excitement’ of a tour, having never been on an international tour other than the World Cups in Japan (2019) and France (2023).

“I have only heard of tours and have personally not experienced something like this,” he said of the 2026 voyage.

“It is something new for us as players and something very exciting.

“These are tours we have only heard of.”

Most of the current generation of Boks were not even born the last time the All Blacks toured South Africa, while those who were – the likes of Malcolm Marx, Eben Etzebeth, Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Cobus Reinach, Damian de Allende, Cheslin Kolbe, Wilco Louw, Jesse Kriel, Bongi Mbonambi and Kwagga Smith – were pre-school toddlers and some still in nappies.

“I have heard so many stories from guys who went on tours or faced touring teams, like coach Rassie [Erasmus] played against.”

Turning his attention to the rivalry, Kolisi said the face-off between the two always produces something news.

“It will be exciting for New Zealand as well, to interact with the public, because they do have a huge following in South Africa.”

@rugby365com