With SA Rugby confirming there will be a decisive winner in the Greatest Rivalry series — no shared trophy — the format of any tiebreaker remains unresolved. On the Boks Unpacked podcast, Burger, Shimange, and De Villiers chewed over the possibilities, and it's De Villiers's take that will raise eyebrows: with three of the four Tests on home soil, he argued the Boks would hold a structural advantage throughout the series, meaning a 2-2 draw should effectively count as a moral victory for the All Blacks. Burger and Shimange weren't buying it. Burger's preference, if extra time can't split them, is to simply share the series rather than resort to a kicking competition — a sentiment De Villiers echoed by invoking the Cardiff Blues-Leicester Tigers nightmare from 2009. SA Rugby's Yusuf Jackson says options like extra time and sudden death are still being explored, so the tiebreaker mechanism is genuinely unresolved.
De Villiers: If it ends 2-2, the All Blacks deserve to win the series
De Villiers argues that if the Greatest Rivalry series ends 2-2, New Zealand should be awarded the win given South Africa's three-game home advantage — a view his co-hosts didn't share. The tiebreaker format remains unconfirmed, with SA Rugby still weighing options, and all three former Boks united in hoping it doesn't come down to a kicking competition.
All Blacks' loosehead crisis hands Springboks a ready-made weapon in Greatest Rivalry Series
Jeff Wilson has publicly identified loosehead prop as the All Blacks' most dangerous weakness ahead of four consecutive Tests against the Springboks — with Williams likely out, Tu'ungafasi's future uncertain, and the remaining options short on caps and experience. Set against the depth Erasmus has built across the prop positions, this piece maps out why scrum time could be where the Greatest Rivalry Series is decided.
Stephen Donald: Robertson copied the Boks — Rennie must go back to All Blacks DNA
Stephen Donald backs Hansen's anti-copycat argument, saying Robertson erred by chasing the Springbok blueprint rather than New Zealand's tempo-based strengths — and expects Rennie to correct that course ahead of a blockbuster four-Test series in South Africa.
Mulder's '95 Warning: Don't Sleep on the All Blacks
1995 World Cup winner Japie Mulder warns against writing off the All Blacks ahead of the four-Test series, drawing on South Africa's own underdog story to argue the gap in rankings doesn't guarantee a comfortable series win.
Hansen: Wellington told us more about the All Blacks than the Springboks
Hansen argues the Wellington result revealed more about All Black confusion than Springbok dominance, while cautioning against scoreline fixation — and backing the new-look All Blacks to learn from the Greatest Rivalry tour.
Carter flags Bok clashes as the All Blacks' season-defining test under Rennie
Dan Carter says the Bok Tests will define the All Blacks' season under Rennie — a signal of just how much weight the Rugby Championship clashes carry for New Zealand's rebuilding project.