Beauden Barrett: Springboks have had the ‘upper hand’ over All Blacks ahead of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour
Beauden Barrett (right) admits the Springboks have held the upper hand over the All Blacks in recent times.
All Blacks star Beauden Barrett admits the Springboks have held the upper hand over his side in recent years, with the Southern Hemisphere giants set to face each other in the ‘Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry’ tour.
For the first time since 1996, the All Blacks will embark on an eight-game tour of South Africa, taking on the four United Rugby Championship sides as well as a four-Test series against the Springboks, with the tour set to replace next year’s Rugby Championship.
The Boks will then head to Aotearoa in 2030, their first elongated tour of the country in the professional era.
‘In recent times, we feel like they’ve had the upper hand’
The two sides have dominated the rugby world for some time now, with them splitting the last four World Cups between them (New Zealand 2011 and 2015, South Africa 2019 and 2023) as well as the last nine Rugby Championships (New Zealand six, South Africa three), but there has been a turning of the tide in their head-to-head meetings.
South Africa have won five of their past six meetings against New Zealand, a run which includes the 2023 World Cup final and condemning the All Blacks to their heaviest-ever defeat at Sky Stadium last month. Around that, South Africa also claimed the Freedom Cup for the first time since 2009 last year, and defended it again this year after the split 1-1 series.
Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry: Details of All Blacks’ eight-game tour of South Africa confirmed
With recent history against them heading into next year’s bumper tour, Barrett knows exactly the challenge that faces his squad when they land on South African soil.
“There’s going to be a lot of water going under the bridge between then (the Rugby Championship defeat in Wellington) and when we tour, but it obviously still hurts,” he detailed.
Upper hand
“In recent times, they’ve had the upper hand. We just look back at the 2023 World Cup and the heartbreak of that, but then you look at the success we had in North Harbour many years ago, which was a record-breaking win for us.
“You can look as far back as you want and draw on whatever you need to fuel you, but in recent times, we feel like they’ve had the upper hand.
“Going into this tour, we know how big a challenge it’s going to be.”
