Loose Pass: Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour’s possible impact on the game’s medium-term future
Rugby's Greatest Rivalry series between the Springboks and All Blacks is a throwback to a bygone era and represents a case study for opportunities moving forward
This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with the possible impact of the Greatest Rivalry tour on the game’s medium-term future…
By the end of 2027, there may, or may not be, a new name on the William Webb Ellis trophy. There may also be, or not be a re-think of the Nations Championship, or even the Rugby Championship. Maybe there will be a re-think of what international rugby is all about by then. In a sport which constantly seems to be re-inventing itself, only to run out of patience (and/or money and sponsorship) far too fast, the shiniest, newest thing on the menu is going on in South Africa over the next few weeks. And it bears more consideration.
The World Cup will unquestionably remain the zenith of tournament achievement for any country or player. For the home nations, France and Italy, the Six Nations will narrowly retain second place. Home Nations players will then doubtlessly look at Lions tours as a unique category of career achievement to be ranked at least alongside the Six Nations.
‘Players want to represent their country’
Outside of that? Naturally, players want to represent their country. Local squabbles such as the Bledisloe Cup are important. And international games will always pull a decent crowd. But in few universes have the endless international slogs of the June and November Test windows over the past 20-25 years become imagination-capturing spectacles to be forever etched in history; nor, when the schedules for such have been released, are they constantly considered as must-sees in all diaries. “South Africa at Twickenham? Hmmm… money’s a bit tight right now. Look, they’ll be here again next year so…” “France are in Auckland? Well, nice, but there’s half their team missing. I’m sure it’ll be fun, but it’s hardly a full Test really, is it? I mean, what’s really on the line?” And so on.
While the November and June/July records have improved in terms of even matching over the past decade, there’s still a glaring disparity in the freshness between the touring teams which head south each year and the touring teams which head north, not to mention the levels of preparation because of where such trips sit in the respective calendars.
But with those calendars shifting and aligning, with international Test windows now much more harmonised, the All Blacks’ tour of South Africa (excepting the Test in Baltimore) represents not just a throwback to a bygone era, it represents a case study for opportunities moving forward.
SANZAAR confirm fresh TV deal as further Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry broadcast details revealed
Desperately resisting the urge to resort to truisms such as ‘less is more’ and the ‘value of a diamond is the rarity’, it’s perhaps simply better to tell it as it is: the Greatest Rivalry tour creates once-or-twice-in-a-generation opportunities in similar fashion to Lions tours and World Cups, for fans and players alike. It’s an opportunity for an entire generation of All Blacks to hold the mantle of ‘victorious in South Africa’ for potentially another eight years (and the first time in 30). It’s an opportunity for a horde of New Zealand fans – 3,000 are expected in South Africa for this tour – to spend a once-or-twice-in-a-lifetime trip following the All Blacks around South Africa (excepting the Test in Baltimore) for a month and enjoying the locals and the host country along the way.
It should appeal to all (excepting the Test in Baltimore). Wales do not probably fancy playing South Africa year in, year out and in the current state, fans are unlikely to be falling over themselves to make the journey down, especially not while hope still springs eternal that the Welsh might be in better nick for next year’s clash.
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An enticing prospect
But if those clashes were only every four years, or even six or eight years? Well, that might at least make the whole thing a little more enjoyable, not to mention the value added from the midweek clashes giving the nations’ shadow players a little boxing. And consider the return tour: the Springboks up against the three remaining Welsh regions: that would be three matches fully capturing the imagination. It should not be lost on observers that there are probably still more people living who claim to have been at Stradey Park in 1972 than claim to have been there when Wales first beat South Africa in 1999.
Those claims may be figments of fevered imagination (if not downright lies). But it is the imagination that is the point. There’s precious little left to the imagination when it comes to the Nations Championship; imagining Liverpool to be a spiritual home for Fiji is perhaps one thing, as is imagining that making England play three games in three different continents within a 15-day span is a good idea. But the rest of it is still the same old June Test series, except now they are in July, and the match packaging is a little more waxed.
The tour to South Africa by New Zealand is not the same old thing at all. It’s exactly the foundation of bragging rights and once-in-a-career opportunity that international rugby was founded on. It’s a return to one of the game’s core concepts (excepting the game in Baltimore). And while several, including this column, were disappointed with the seemingly unilateral way it came about, leaving Australia and Argentina a bit in the lurch, it is unmistakably a chance for the game to look at the concept and consider whether annual tour series might not represent more value, both on the pitch and in PR terms, than sending knackered teams globetrotting week in and week out for two months of the year.
To put it very simply: we can’t wait (even for the game in Baltimore).