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Comment: Greatest Rivalry opener to be battle for the ages as Dave Rennie’s resurgent All Blacks and razor sharp duo shine across the park Josh Moorby again impressed for the All Blacks, scoring two tries against the Bulls. Their task was to soften up the All Blacks, in body and mind, ahead of the Test series. Instead, Bulls shipped a half century of points before landing a wounding blow. “You can blame a lot of things,” home captain Marcell Coetzee said when asked if the scheduling of the fixture had been less than ideal given his team are in pre-season. “We wanted this game. We wanted to play against the second-best team in the world.” It was a sharp reminder to New Zealand that unbeaten in three tune-up matches they might be, and looking in very decent nick, but what follows now is of an altogether different order. By half-time in Pretoria, with the tourists 24-0 ahead, the match was won. The All Blacks had made it three halves of footie without conceding a point; 120 minutes in which they had scored 78 without reply. Under no illusions It was great for the Loftus crowd that Bulls rallied with three scores, but the cause was already lost. Long gone. And the measured reaction of skipper Codie Taylor showed that Coetzee could have saved his breath. New Zealand are under no illusions heading to Ellis Park. They know the size of mountain they have to climb. That’s what happens when you are up against an opponent that beat you in the last World Cup final and, on your most recent meeting, put you in the record books for all the wrong reasons. You remember. “No disrespect to the Bulls,” Taylor said. “But I imagine the Springboks are looking at this and thinking we are going to lift up the tempo and lift up the physicality. That’s what Test match footie is all about.” It is hard to think this Greatest Rivalry series could be any better set-up, Siya Kolisi’s hamstring aside. In the green and gold corner the Boks have won 12 straight and are unbeaten in a year. In the black, New Zealand are resurgent under Dave Rennie, playing fast and free and in pretty good health. Yes, they are without George Bell, Billy Proctor and Caleb Clarke, who have returned home with assorted knocks. But of the three injuries keeping Rennie awake at night, the coach is a lot more chipper. Cam Roigard, who has not played on this tour due to a tight calf, should be okay for the opener, according to Rennie. So too Will Jordan, the nation’s record try scorer, who has struggled to shake off a back issue. Damian McKenzie, who turned his ankle against the Sharks, is the big doubt. “We’re confident that Cam and Will will come right,” Rennie said on Saturday night. “Damian, maybe we’re sweating on a tad, but still think he’ll be right.” What performances against the Stormers, Sharks and Bulls have shown is that while Rennie would be loath to lose any of that world class trio, he has top drawer options. Leroy Carter and Josh Moorby each scored two tries at Loftus, worked hard off their wings and looked razor sharp. Beauden Barrett influenced the game from full-back and would let nobody down should McKenzie not make it. Across the park the All Blacks shone, led by loose forwards Peter Lakai, Simon Parker, player of the match Anton Segner and Wallace Sititi, when he came on. Half-backs Cortez Ratima and Josh Jacomb controlled proceedings, Rieko Ioane was back near his best. Two areas of concern pre-match were the scrum and team discipline. Both were on point and despite playing at altitude – where the first and third Tests, remember, will be contested – the men in black were full of running from first to last. “It’s definitely different over here,” Segner admitted. “It says on the tunnel on the way in that we’re 1,350 metres [above sea level] and ‘it matters’. I could definitely feel the difference. I’m sure the rest of the boys could, too.” 50 years since the last meeting of the two teams resulted in a famous win for the hosts, known then as Northern Transvaal, a repeat was never on the cards. Last season’s URC finalists are four weeks into their pre-season and from the moment they overthrew the first lineout did themselves few favours. Denied an early try when Juann Else was ruled short, they immediately gave up back-to-back penalties for Moorby to score. Rudolph resistance Former Leicester star Hanro Liebenberg then lost a try, on his return to Bulls colours after eight years away, due to a Willie le Roux knock-on. Moorby again went up the other end to dot down. And when tighthead Francois Klopper was sin-binned on the half hour Taylor took advantage, scoring not one but two tries before the half-time oranges. That, despite the notable resistance of Jeandre Rudolph, was that. When Northern Transvaal beat the All Blacks 29-27 in August 1976, Thys Lourens’ men led 19-6 at half-time. Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust. Likewise, when Adriaan Richter’s class of 1997 took the scalp of the British and Irish Lions (35-30), they were well ahead at the mid-point. This game won’t be remembered like those. Trailing 24-0 at the turnaround rarely gains entry into halls of fame. Ruan Vermaak, Stravino Jacobs and Coetzee might later have crossed the whitewash but it achieved nothing. Thoughts had long since turned to Johannesburg and the opening skirmish in a battle for the ages.