KEY POINTS:
Every time I come to South Africa, I am reminded of the special bond that exists between the Springboks and the All Blacks.
The magic of that relationship is absolutely something both countries need to cherish and preserve.
I'll admit to being concerned at the start of the professional age about the effect playing each other so much would have. Would two, and now three, tests every season dilute the intensity of the encounters from the fans' perspective?
The answer, from my experience in Cape Town and every time I have been in South Africa for an All Black test, is no.
Since I arrived in Cape Town the city has been abuzz. Everywhere you go people are talking about the test. Turn on the TV and there is something about the test and on the morning of the game, every newspaper was packed with coverage.
For people of my generation who can remember the 1960s and 1970s, there is this phenomenal sense of excitment whenever the All Blacks are in South Africa.
My old team-mate Ian Jones is over here and the pair of us were talking about how we can remember waking up in New Zealand in the middle of the night to listen to the radio or to watch the TV.
We both kept coming back to that game in 1976 in Bloemfontein, with the sun-scorched pitch. Watching Joe Morgan score the game's only try in the All Blacks' 15-9 victory is a memory that will live forever.
Having played here often enough, you know how tough it is. When the All Blacks were there in 1996, it was probably the last genuine tour with mid-week games. We were there for four or five weeks and every single day was a massive challenge.
Everywhere you go, people are talking about you. In New Zealand when we are hosting teams we tend to tell them that we hope they do well. But really we are hoping they won't.
In South Africa they say what they think. So that makes it an intense experience but obviously so does what happens on the field. When you play the Boks, you know they are never going to give up. They are never going to give you an inch. That's where the respect comes from.
I have caught up with many former Springboks in the last few days and they all feel the same way. Francois Pienaar has become a close friend since we are now no longer playing against each other.
He talks about the Springbok tour of New Zealand in 1994 in much the same way as many of us All Blacks talk about that special trip to the Republic in 1996.
He found it a challenge every single day, where they felt under pressure, that their every move was being watched and that four million people were against them.
There is probably no greater testament to the bond of respect between the two nations that so many of the kids over here want to do the haka. They love it and they all want to kick like Dan Carter.
So it is vital we protect that and that both continue to win so the next generation of New Zealanders and South Africans want to be All Blacks and Springboks.
