As with anything in life, there is always history preceding any event. And this weekend's match between the all conquering All Blacks and the Springboks in their home arena is bound to be a hummer - even given the form of both sides.
So what about form? I mentioned earlier that history has a part to play in results at ( and specifically) Newlands which has plenty (who can forget the 9-8 last minute win by the 1970 AB's??) And if one looks at results from that ground, it's plainly obvious the AB's have never really given the Boks a "hiding". Far from it. Ellis Park may be the quintessential home of South African rugby but Newlands is a very close second, if not slightly ahead.
So the history - 1928 saw the first game between the two sides. Here is the line up of matches and results (Year and AB score first) since:
1928 Aug 13-5
1949 Jul 11-15
1960 Jul 11-3
1970 Aug 9-8
1976 Sep 10-15
1996 Aug 29-18
2001 Jul 12-3
2005 Aug 16-22
2008 Aug 19-0
See what I mean, all matches were hard fought and not a guaranteed win to either side. Here are some stats:
AB's won 6 Boks 3 (no draws)
Averaging the scores, AB's scored 14 and Boks 10.
In only one match for each team the score exceeded 20 points per side.
It's fair to say that the AB's will be very hard pushed to win and win well given that history. Personally it would do the game well for the AB's to taste defeat heading into the northern hemisphere and summer rest. My score is AB's 17-19 Boks.
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