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The cauldron, the cathedral, the mecca. Nothing in world rugby compares to the grand Ellis Park stage. Wherever your vantage point this weekend, soak it in. Springboks-All Blacks tests at this stadium are the pinnacle, the greatest challenge any touringteam confronts. No place, though, makes you feel more foreign, more of an outsider, than Ellis Park’s towering stands and hostile arena. Fans gather outside the famed ground, in a notoriously treacherous Johannesburg neighbourhood, hours before kickoff to stoke their braais, feast on mounds of meat, beer and the favoured local brandy and Coke as they build to the crescendo of the occasion. South Africans love welcoming the All Blacks. On the field, though, they love nothing more than watching them get beaten to a pulp. Once inside Ellis Park, the South African anthem – all five languages – evokes uncontrollable goosebumps. Every hair on the back of your neck stands to attention. With the 62,000 crowd well liquored and baying for blood, a passenger jet plane often flies low and slow over the open-aired roof just before kickoff to spark the atmosphere to fever pitch. “It’s like a scene from a movie,” All Blacks centurion Keven Mealamu recalls. “As you walk down the steep steps and tunnel you just hear the crowd get louder and louder. When you’re out there warming up most of the people aren’t sitting in their seats. “As you get closer to the ground it’s the energy you feel, the heart starts beating faster. It’s epic. Sometimes you get an opportunity to walk alongside the Springboks and they are sizing you up. When I look back I was trying to puff my chest out a little more than usual.” The All Blacks, perhaps surprisingly, boast a successful recent record at Ellis Park having won three of their past five ventures there – and six from 15 overall since 1928. Such a record deserves recognition given the Springboks’ status as back-to-back World Cup champions. The venue also demands players dig into the depths of their mental and physical limits as the high veldt, thin-altitude air, 1753 metres above sea level, zaps legs and lungs the longer the game wears on. Former All Blacks captain Sean Fitzpatrick, speaking to the Herald this week in Johannesburg, shared his memories of playing at the venue while encouraging Dave Rennie’s team to embrace everything it entails. “It’s an intimidating environment. It’s their so-called fortress,” Fitzpatrick said. “As New Zealanders we like that. We like going to places that they think they’re going to have one over us. Hostile crowds, I always like that. They have lost six times to us here. “If the 1996 team could teach this team anything it’s to embrace it. I used to love coming here and getting booed, people telling me they’re going to kill me and all those sorts of things … that’s just the way they are. They’re very respectful people, afterwards, but they’ll do whatever it takes. It’s a battle here on and off the field. You’ll see on Saturday what passion is all about.” Ardie Savea started at No 8 as Scott Robertson’s All Blacks faded in the final quarter to lose their last test at Ellis Park two years ago but he also featured in the upset triumph in 2022 that saved Ian Foster’s job. As he returns from his two-week rest at home to lead the All Blacks, 10 of whom are facing the Springboks in South Africa for the first time, Savea explains how a siege mentality and feeding off the Ellis Park hostility can fuel their fire. “It’s the best place you want to play as a footy player, Ellis Park,” Savea said. “You run out and you see the Springbok warriors coming out and the crowd, it’s special. You always get goosebumps when you come and play here. “It can go both ways. You can let it drown you out and you’re a deer in the headlights or you love those moments. As All Blacks, we love those moments. It’s not going to be easy at all. “We know what’s coming and what we need to do. The stakes are high. There’s a lot of hype and edge around it. That brings out the best in all players. We respect the Springboks and the world-class outfit they are but I also believe we’re just as quality. Hopefully we go out there and put a spectacle on. “Every time we play the Springboks they are physical and challenging. It takes you to places you can question yourself but as an All Black, that’s where you want to be.” Ellis Park lays claim to some of rugby’s best games and iconic moments. As the All Blacks prepare for another ferocious onslaught from the Boks at their ancestral home, this weekend has all the makings of another engrossing, memorable battle between rugby’s greatest rivals. What better place to start this four-match series than rugby’s mecca. Liam Napier is a Senior Sports Journalist and Rugby Correspondent for the New Zealand Herald. He is a co-host of the Rugby Direct podcast. Listen to Elliott Smith’s live commentary on Newstalk ZB Sport and iHeartRadio, or join the Alternative Commentary Collective on iHeartRadio and Radio Hauraki.