All Blacks and Springboks meet in latest chapter of rugby's most storied rivalry in 2023 Rugby World Cup final.
It's the sport's most storied and bitter rivalry.
Over the course of 105 Test matches since their first meeting at the House of Pain, Carisbrook stadium in Dunedin in 1921, these two most recognisable of rugby rivals have fought battles on and off the pitch to create some of the sport's most iconic moments.
New Zealand won that first game 13-5 and have a far superior record overall, leading the head-to-head 62 to 39, with four draws.
But numbers can only tell you so much.
If you needed a visual indication as to who the All Blacks consider their biggest rivals, look no further than 2005.
When New Zealand wanted to debut a new haka, it wasn't the touring British and Irish Lions who were first subjected to the Kapa o Pango — despite the enormity of that once-every-12-year tour.
No. It was against the Springboks at Carisbrook, the venue where the two teams met for the first time, where Tana Umaga led the team in a chilling rendition of the first new haka to be performed by the All Blacks since 1905.
"To stand there and watch it for the first time was a privilege," Springbok captain John Smit recalled in Andy Birt and Jamie Wall's book, Facing the Haka.
One of the most iconic moments in matches between the two teams came the last time they met in the Rugby World Cup final — incidentally South Africa's first in 1995.
It was the Springboks' coming-out party.
It was the Rainbow Nation's coming out party as well.
Decades of sporting and political isolation ended in perfect sporting glory, with Nelson Mandela and Francois Pienaar together in the middle of Ellis Park, arms aloft with the Webb Ellis Cup raised like a golden icon pointing towards a brighter future.
A decade-and-a-half earlier, scenes of such interracial harmony would have been unthinkable.
South Africa's policy of racial segregation made any tour from the late 1940s right through to the 1970s immensely contentious, with New Zealand authorities bowing to pressure to not select Māori players to tour South Africa.
New Zealand were among the first international teams to cancel a tour of South Africa in 1967, although the New Zealand Rugby Union opposed the political intervention.
The All Blacks did tour in 1970, but only because the Māori players among the tourists were given the abhorrent status of "honorary whites" by the ruling National Party.
Late Australian international Lloyd McDermott, one of the first Indigenous Wallabies, famously chose not to tour South Africa in 1963 under those same conditions.
The Springboks were due to tour in 1973 but the New Zealand government withdrew their support of the tour despite plenty of public support for the matches taking place, due to potential for "the greatest eruption of violence this country has ever known," as told to Prime Minister Norman Kirk by the police.
New Zealand did travel to South Africa in 1976 to widespread condemnation.
Black African nations were so disgusted that many boycotted the Montreal Olympics that year and, as a result of the protests, in 1977 Commonwealth nations unanimously adopted the Gleneagles Agreement to discourage sporting contact between the world and South Africa.
Despite that, New Zealand Prime Minister Robert Muldoon refused to ban the upcoming tour of 1981 on the basis that politics should stay out of sport.
The frustration and anguish of the tours continuing to take place came to a head during the infamous Rebel Tour of 1981.
Widespread protests led to two tour matches — in Hamilton against Waikato and Timaru against South Canterbury — being cancelled and the third Test in Auckland disrupted by a low-flying Cessna aircraft that dropped flour bombs on the playing field.
The Springboks subsequently carried on their tour to the USA, and the protests followed them.
Aside from that iconic 1995 final, New Zealand and South Africa have met five times in Rugby World Cups.
The South Africans won the first two meetings — including a 22-18 win in the much-maligned third-place play-off in 1999, but since then it's been All Black.
A crushing 29-9 quarterfinal victory at Docklands in 2003, a 20-18 victory at Twickenham in the 2015 semifinal, and a 23-13 win during the pool stages of the 2019 tournament in Yokohama — the Springboks' only defeat of a title-winning tournament.
It doesn't get any bigger.
"It's massive," All Blacks defence coach Scott McLeod said during the week.
"I remember touring there many years ago and I was blown away by the passion of the people.
"They were very competitive and they were in your face, but as soon as the whistle went they were some of the best to socialise with and have a barbecue and a beer.
"That respect has never gone away and I doubt it ever will between the All Blacks and the South Africans and it is something we treasure."
Springboks assistant Deon Davis also reflected on the two teams' shared history.
"As a kid, we grew up listening to the radio on the battles between the All Blacks and South Africa, listening to the stories of the heroes from both teams over the years," he said.
"It has been part of our rugby history, the Springboks and the All Blacks, and every time we play each other it is always a special battle and I don't think this one will be different."
Both teams are looking to make new history too.
New Zealand are the only team to have won back-to-back World Cups, a feat the Springboks are hoping to emulate this week.
Equally, both teams are looking for a record-breaking fourth Rugby World Cup crown.
Recent history would suggest neither side has a clear advantage: The last 10 meetings see New Zealand win five wins, South Africa four and a 16-16 draw.
But the most recent of those games, a 35-7 thrashing at Twickenham in the lead-up to this World Cup perhaps gives South Africa the edge.
"Our battles with the All Blacks, there is a lot of history between us. We have played them a couple of times this year but going into a World Cup final I don't think any of those previous encounters count," Davis said.
"It will be a completely different game. Both teams will have learned a lot of lessons [since the last game they played]."New Zealand is playing excellent rugby. We will see where we can outsmart each other. This will be a new game under new circumstances, playing for the top prize in world rugby.
"If you look back too far and not be in the moment, we will fool ourselves."