This piece gets granular on the contact-session prep underpinning Saturday's Greatest Rivalry opener, walking through five specific breakdown drills both camps will have run this week — tracing each one's origin and explaining precisely what it's designed to solve. The analytical thread running through all five is that ruck dominance isn't primarily a jackal problem; it's a fitness, accuracy and body-position problem that only shows up when the legs have gone. Rennie's All Blacks are generating 55 more rucks per game than Robertson's did and held 81% of their ruck ball inside three seconds against France — which is a very different ask at altitude in the 72nd minute. The Springbok drills, particularly the Felix Jones-influenced 'tackle, bounce, jackal, clear,' are built around that half-second window between a carrier going to ground and a cleaner arriving — the margin that separates a turnover from a penalty for holding on. The piece also flags why Roigard matters structurally: with him running, New Zealand's ruck speed dropped to 2.90 seconds, and no amount of forward grunt gets you there without a nine who can exploit clean ball instantly. The conclusion is blunt — South Africa need a handful of short New Zealand placements to make their system pay; New Zealand need four rucks in five inside three seconds just to play their game. Both outcomes are determined on a Tuesday.
The Tuesday work that decides Saturday: five breakdown drills shaping Boks v All Blacks
A drill-by-drill breakdown of the contact-session prep shaping Saturday's opener — arguing that ruck dominance is a fitness and accuracy problem, not a jackal one, and that the margin between South Africa winning turnovers and New Zealand hitting sub-three-second ruck speed gets settled in training long before Ellis Park.
Boks remain top but All Blacks close gap to 2.90 points after Nations Championship opener
South Africa stay top of the World Rugby Men's Rankings at 93.94 points but New Zealand have cut the gap to 2.90 after beating France, while Scotland climb to equal their all-time high of fifth following a record 47-38 win over Argentina in Córdoba.
Springboks lead World Rugby rankings by 3.61 points ahead of Nations Championship
South Africa top the World Rugby rankings on 93.94 points, 3.61 clear of New Zealand, as the Springboks head into the inaugural Nations Championship. World Rugby has also confirmed the removal of home weighting from the rankings system from 1 July 2026.
Hansen's Right to Back Himself — But the Boks' Five-Match Streak Tells a Different Story
Jean de Villiers acknowledges Hansen's logic but argues last year's results and performances make it hard to see the All Blacks closing the gap on the Boks — and the panel get genuinely animated over what a 2-2 series tiebreaker would even look like.
Keo & Zels: Stubborn All Blacks policy make Boks smile
The boys love that New Zealand keep picking their second-best, long may it continue.
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.