HISTORY BECKONS: All Blacks eye first back-to-back Test wins over Boks in SA in three decades

All Blacks coach Dave Rennie vowed his team would be better in the second Test, sending a clear warning to the Boks for the crucial Greatest Rivalry showdown.

All Blacks coach Dave Rennie is not a man for hyperbole, and you’d imagine he would be a marketing executive’s worst nightmare.

Rennie doesn’t indulge in hype. Whether his team wins or loses, his equanimity is constant. Don’t get too high, don’t get too low. At least not publicly.

Of course, after eight games in charge of the All Blacks, which include four Tests and four matches against South African club teams, he has yet to taste defeat with the black fern on his chest.

At about 7pm on Saturday, we might see that equanimity challenged one way or the other.

Last week’s 33-16 first Test victory stunned South Africa and the Boks. And now the All Blacks can twist the knife even further.

If the All Blacks beat the Boks in the second of four Greatest Rivalry Tests, they cannot lose the series. That might even raise a smile from Rennie, but don’t bet your house on it.

More than that though, the All Blacks would have claimed the moral victory regardless of what the Boks do in Tests three and four. Consecutive wins on consecutive weekends against the Boks on home soil are rare.

In South Africa, the Boks haven’t lost to the same team in consecutive Tests since the 1997 British & Irish Lions won the opening two Tests of that series.

The last time the Boks lost on consecutive weekends to the same opponents was against a Dave Rennie-coached Wallabies, in Australia in 2021.

If the All Blacks lose, it’s doubtful Rennie will throw his toys out of the cot. Equanimity. Also, the All Blacks are in the enviable position of front-runners in the series. At worst, if they lose, the outcome of the series will be a 50/50 shootout with two Tests to go.

Asked about the possibility of a 2-0 series lead, cementing their place at the top of the world rankings and how significant that would be, Rennie reached for his dead bat.

“We haven’t talked at all about the series. I’m not remotely interested in world rankings,” Rennie said. “I don’t even understand them.”

“They can change on a whim, somehow. I think it counts for very little. You win a World Cup, you’re a world champion, and you’ve got that tag for four years. Yeah, our focus is on the 80 minutes on Saturday.”