Justin Marshall joined Skallie Breytenbach, Jean de Villiers, and the Boks Unpacked crew ahead of the Greatest Rivalry series and delivered a clear-eyed case for why this tour matters beyond nostalgia. Marshall argued that South Africa's departure from Super Rugby has genuinely hurt All Blacks and Wallabies development — not because of sentiment, but because the South African challenge forces a different kind of rugby. "You had to change the way you played," he said. "We weren't going to push you guys around the park and bully you." He noted that a significant portion of the current 44-man All Blacks squad has never played rugby in South Africa, which he sees as a real blind spot heading into a four-test series. On selection, Marshall flagged two omissions generating debate in New Zealand: Richie Mo'unga, blocked by an NPC qualification rule he called self-defeating politics, and Du'Plessis Kirifi, who he identified as the best genuine fetcher in the country and the kind of back-row presence that costs the opposition bodies and slows every ruck. He also made the case that continuity of selection will matter over four tests — pointing to the 1996 tour as a model — while acknowledging that altitude-to-coast conditions may force Rassie's hand between tests one and two.