When the Springboks take on the All Blacks at Eden Park on Saturday night, it will be just another test between these two nations that are so familiar with each other - not just playing each other every season in the Tri Nations then Rugby Championship but also via Super Rugby.
Indeed, the luster of the Springboks v All Blacks rivalry has somewhat been diluted in the post-apartheid era even if it still very much remains the benchmark test in world rugby.
No longer do the All Blacks and Springboks play 3 test series against each other as they did in the pre-professional era - the last 3 series for what was often called the World Championship of rugby union was back in 1996, the same year Super 12 and the Tri Nations were born.
Moreover, for many younger rugby fans, it is actually very difficult to imagine a time when the issue of the Boks taking on the All Blacks was one not just about what happened on the field, but what happened off it.
Many of them might remember the test series in 1994 between the ABs and Boks in New Zealand - the first series between the two since 1981. Indeed, some even older might remember the game played between them in 1992 in Johannesburg - the first test between the two sides since the international sporting ban on South Africa was lifted a year before.
Unless they were born before the mid 70s, they wouldn't have any idea about what it was like when South Africa was deemed the pariah of sport and the All Blacks lost their most revered rival in world rugby.
They probably wouldn't have experienced New Zealand in one of its darkest and most controversial hours.
In 1981, the Springboks tour was up there with the Iranian hostage crisis as the main headline maker on NZBC's news bulletins. While it wasn't the first Boks tour to be heavily scrutinized by politicians and the media, it was the one that got the most attention - on the back of African nations boycotting the 1976 Olympics because of the apartheid regime in South Africa.
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Anyway, the 1981 tour went ahead but it was the action off the field that got the attention even if it was still a thrilling series on the field - 2-1 it finished to New Zealand for the record.
Midweek games against Waikato and South Canterbury were cancelled due to the actions of protesters invading the pitch, etc. The 1st test was marred when protesters managed to evade the police and run onto the pitch. A riot in Molesworth Street in Wellington turned bloody as the radical movement against the tour reached its climax.
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| Riots outside Victoria University, Wellington |
The climax came in the buildup to the 3rd and deciding test at Eden Park. In a game that will be forever remembered by the flour bombs and the Cessna plane flying low, it was incredible that there was any action at all even with bombs flying all over the place, puncturing the tension in the air which could be cut with a butter knife.
The All Blacks won a thriller 25-22 but their reputation had been tarnished and it would take years for it to repaired - it was only in 1987 before the All Blacks were once again New Zealand public's favourite team.
Rugby's popularity dived in the aftermath, only revived by the great Ranfurly Shield battles between Auckland and Canterbury in the mid-80s.
Mates eventually forgave each other although divisions still remained as did the memories of the emotions and vivid images that will forever be scars on New Zealand's history books.
The Springboks played again on Eden Park in 1994 - the game finished in an 18-all draw which was marred by biting allegations. They played a 90 point thriller in 1997 and again in 2001 and 2010 - but as in 1981, the ABs were too good.
They say rugby is just a game. Back in 1981, it was life or death.
No one died to my knowledge from these tours. It wasn't necessarily rugby public vs protesters, it was also the Police too.
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