Our love-hate relationship with rugby

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Rugby, racing and beer were for years considered the Kiwi holy trinity, but a new survey suggests at least one of the trio may be falling out of favour.

More than a third of respondents to a Herald online poll said they either did not care about the All Blacks or hate rugby full stop.

Of the 7356 participants in the unscientific survey, more than 1900 were unconcerned about the fortunes of the national team.

But it's not all bad news: rugby is still king for 63 per cent of respondents.

The poll results were not enough to faze former All Black captain Stu Wilson, who said hard-core followers of rugby were excited about tonight's All Blacks v Springboks test.

Wilson, who played on the wing between 1976 and 1983, said he was untroubled by the poll, taken over a 22-hour period from 5pm on Thursday.

He said tonight's teams were playing very well, were ranked No 1 and No 2 in the world, and "hard-core followers" were excited by the contest.

For those who aren't excited, they "obviously aren't rugby followers".

He didn't think the results showed support for the national game was in decline. Far from a swing away from rugby, he believed the sport was actually regaining popularity after a lull.

"It's getting bigger, support is getting bigger, the fan base is getting bigger. They lost support three or four years ago, when the New Zealand rugby public didn't turn the TV on and stopped walking to the grounds. But the [domestic competition] got them back ... It was them-versus-us, tribe-versus-tribe."