Ma'a Nonu and Conrad Smith are forging an impressive partnership in the All Black midfield. Gregor Paul ranks them among the greats.
When partnership becomes more prominent than the individuals, that's when you know a combination has merit.
That's something Ma'a Nonu and Conrad Smith are beginning to experience. It possibly irks both that they have become meshed into one, seen as an entity rather than component parts, but there is consolation
on that front.
The best midfielders have earned their reputation as a partnership. There was, of course, Walter Little and Frank Bunce, Tim Horan and Jason Little, Sean Lineen and Scott Hastings, and Jeremy Guscott and Will Carling.
It wasn't right to think of these men as individuals. No one, after all, thinks of just chips or just tonic. They are nothing without the respective offerings of fish and gin.
To burrow into the public conscious as a double act is something in which Nonu and Smith should take considerable pride.
Whether it is a goal to which they aspire seems not to matter - they will be labelled the new Bunce and Little.
That's partly an inevitable consequence of being the only partnership since that great duo of the 1990s to make any significant footprint. It is also recognition of their excellence which has reached the point where it has to be asked whether they have gained residence in the mythical hall of fame. Can they be compared with Bunce and Little and considered just as good?
"They are teetering on the brink," reckons Bunce, arguably the best-placed of all to judge the current duo.
"I would put them on hold for now [in terms of being considered a legendary partnership]. They are there or thereabouts but I think they need a big year in 2011.
"It's only been since 2008 that they have played regularly for the All Blacks and I think they have to be consistent over a longer period to be judged like that."
That they have even made it to the brink is something of a surprise to Bunce, who admits to not initially being sold on Smith. "I wouldn't say I wasn't a fan but I wasn't initially convinced by him.
"Richard Kahui had burst on to the scene and I wasn't sure Smith had that something special. So I decided to watch him closely and it was then I saw what he was all about.
"He does so much hard work; all the tidying up, the defensive chores and he hardly ever does anything wrong."
Since the partnership has matured and developed, Bunce has become convinced the selectors have got it right keeping Smith and Nonu together. These two have built that telepathic understanding that marks the greats. Not only have they played 25 tests together since 2008, they have been Hurricanes partners since 2007.
That's why they move in synchronisation. Smith senses his partner's midfield busts before they happen; they run off each other effortlessly and their most telling contribution this year has been their defensive work - in Christchurch, the All Blacks missed just three of more than 100 tackles.
Smith and Nonu were watertight - the former knocking men down and talking, directing, keeping his formerly errant partner in check. In his early career, Nonu used to occasionally charge out the line, seeking the glory hit.
Those brain explosions cost him his chance to start at the 2003 World Cup and a place at the 2007 tournament.
"I'm not sure who is best for who in that relationship but I would say that Ma'a plays better when Conrad is there," reckons Bunce.
Smith is more than a partner to Nonu - he has been Nonu's road to redemption.
Such is their value now, few can see how to accommodate the all-singing, all-dancing Sonny Bill Williams.
Williams has a stunning skill-set but the Nonu-Smith partnership is strong and the former NRL hero might find life with the All Blacks harder than he expects. Bench time beckons for Williams because, for all his neat offloads and raw power, he doesn't have the same fluidity of understanding as Nonu does with Smith.
That can't be learned quickly. It has taken Nonu and Smith the better part of four years to reach this place.
Nor should it be assumed that experience is all it takes to become a great midfield partnership. The skill-sets have to be complementary and diverse rather than aligned and similar.
"I know that when I played with guys like Eroni Clarke or Matthew Cooper, I never felt we posed the same threat to defences," says Bunce. "They were great players but we were too similar - we didn't ask different questions of defenders. But when I played with Walt [Little], he had such silky ball skills that he gave me space and time and I was always happy doing the donkey work to leave him free.
"I remember Guscott and Carling were a tough pair because Jerry had this smooth running style and was quick while Carling was rugged, strong and direct and they were both difficult to mark in their different ways."
Bunce and Little played 28 tests together but their partnership was over a much longer period - 1992-97 - which is probably why it feels they had a longevity not yet matched by Smith and Nonu.
But the desire of the current pairing is obvious. They know they have a partnership that is bordering on greatness.
"We have played with each other at different levels for a long while and we don't want that combination to become stale," says Nonu.
"We want to keep it fresh and keep playing the way we have while trying to improve."
The legends
Jeremy Guscott and Will Carling (England 1989-97)
Guscott was the smooth-running, silky-skilled centre who wore No 12, while Carling was the under-rated, hard-running, deceptively quick second five who wore 13.
These two were a fixture for seven seasons until Phil de Glanville was made captain in 1996.
While England spent much of Carling and Guscott's era kicking the ball away, there was no doubt they combined well, with the former creating plenty for the latter. Strangely, while they gelled so nicely on the field, they were never friends off it and neither claimed to know the other when they both retired.
Tim Horan and Jason Little (Australia 1989-2000)
They first appeared as baby-faced teenagers in 1989 but they were no soft touch. Having grown up in Queensland, these two had a natural understanding before they played a test together.
Horan was the strong-running second five who could hammer up the middle; Little was more elegant, an organiser and support player. They were brilliant defensively and no one in New Zealand shed a tear when the Wallabies were daft enough to split that partnership in the late 1990s.
Frank Mesnel and Philippe Sella (France 1986-95)
These two combined as a 12-13 and a 10-12 partnership. Mesnel was the ball-playing, tactical supremo; Sella was tough, abrasive yet smooth and capable of running outside defences or through them.
They read each other instinctively and the French were a deadly outfit when those two were in the midfield.
Sean Lineen and Scott Hastings (Scotland 1989-92)
Short but intense - this pairing lasted only four seasons. In that period, Scotland won a Grand Slam, reached a World Cup semifinal and came close to defeating New Zealand in Auckland.
Lineen, son of All Black Terry, was wiry but firm. He was a gifted distributor and ran clever angles. Hastings, younger brother of Gavin, was direct, defensively brilliant and smart enough to know to hang off Lineen's shoulder.
