The conventional wisdom heading into Rugby's Greatest Rivalry series was that the All Blacks would fade as injuries mounted and South African depth told over four tests. Gavin Rich argues that narrative may be running ahead of itself. Yes, Rennie is patching holes — Segner joins Lord on the injury list — but the midweek Ellis Park win over the Lions offered him something useful: Ethan Blackadder was outstanding, scoring twice and dominating the breakdown to the point where Rennie is openly reconsidering him for the DHL Stadium starting XV. Reiko Ioane, increasingly settled at outside centre after his Leinster stint, was almost as damaging. The Lions gave the All Blacks a genuine scare — leading 35-17 before conceding four unanswered tries in the final half-hour — and Rich notes that a Lions side missing only one player to Bok duty came closer to winning than the Boks managed in the actual test. The piece reads the midweek game as a dual message: the All Blacks have more depth than their injury list suggests, and South African provincial rugby, played in-season and at full strength, would test them far harder than these pre-season encounters have allowed.