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Bryan Habana - Source: Reuters
All Blacks v South Africa
Played: 83
Won: 46
Drawn: 3
Lost: 34
Few rivalries at any level of rugby are quite as fierce as that of the All Blacks and the Springboks.
There's more than just pride and history at stake each time the world's two most successful rugby nations lock horns. It's an arm-wrestle of rugby ideologies: the flair and athleticism of the All Blacks against the brute strength of the Boks.
Of the more epic encounters since 1921, few have surpassed the literally-breathtaking scenes in the dying moments of the third Test at Pretoria in 1996, where both sets of forward packs lay prone on the ground through utter exhaustion, barely able to lift themselves to their feet for one final engagement.
It was a moment that epitomised the spirit and intensity in which these matches are played: nothing is ever left on the field, no quarter ever given.
And while their physical might remains formidable, the world champion Boks have added another string to their bow in recent seasons.
The big, hulking, beef-fed props and hookers like CJ van de Linde and Bismarck du Plessis are still there, but they've been complemented by freakishly athletic, ball-running loosies like Schalk Burger and Pierre Spies and the ball-winning Heinrich Brussow.
Add to this the emergence of five-eighth wonderkid Patrick Lambie and 2007 IRB player of the year Bryan Habana - as well as exciting midfielders like Jean de Villers and Jacque Fourie - and the Boks have developed into a potent attacking (and especially counter-attacking) force with an expansive gameplan that their predecessors could only have dreamed of.
Unfortunately in Victor Matfield's, Bakkies Botha's and John Smit's international swangsongs, the Springboks crashed out of the 2011 World Cup at the quarter-final stage to Australia. Despite dominating almost every facet of the match, South Africa couldn't get the job done losing 11-9 in the match of the tournament.
All Blacks bogey
The Boks have found the All Blacks to be a bogey team since their return from international exile in 1992, winning just 14 of 44 contests.
But famously, one of those victories came in the 1995 World Cup final on an occasion so emotionally-charged and historic that it has inspired a Clint Eastwood-directed Hollywood film.
With the iconic figure of Nelson Mandela looking on, the Boks shrugged off their underdogs tag to steal a heart-stopping 15-12 extra-time victory in front of 60,000 delirious fans at Johannesburg.
In 2009, the Boks swept the All Blacks 3-0 on their way to their first Tri Nations title since 2004, before the New Zealanders turned the tables in 2010 with their own 3-0 whitewash.
In 2011 both nations split wins home-and-away in a shortened Tri Nations and although these two proud rugby nations play each other a lot more often these days than they used to, that scarcely diminishes the sense of occasion.
And ask a fan on either side how much a win over their arch-rivals means, their steely silence, bitten fingernails and white knuckles will say it all.
Springboks Squad: TBC
