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Top 15 tries of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Tour

Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Tries

The inaugural Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour lived up to the hype, writes Quintin van Jaarsveld as he selects the 15 best tries of the tour.

The month-long odyssey was the All Blacks’ first traditional tour to South Africa in 30 years, and it was worth the wait as the Kiwis rediscovered their Mana and flair under Dave Rennie, while Rassie Erasmus’ Springboks showed why they are the best team in the world.  

The Stormers and Lions did themselves proud against the tourists, while the Sharks and Bulls were blown away by the men in black.

New Zealand completed a clean sweep of wins over the South African franchises and won the opening Test of the series in Johannesburg before the Boks roared back with victories in Cape Town, Soweto and Baltimore to record a famous 3-1 win.

It was the first time since 2009 that the Boks won three Tests in a row against the All Blacks in the same year and the first time since 2022 that the Kiwis lost three Tests on the bounce.

From brute South African strength to New Zealand sizzle, the tour had it all and produced some thrilling tries. Here’s my top 15 tries of a very successful and highly entertaining maiden RGR spectacle:

15: Ultimate Insult

The biggest humiliation of the All Blacks’ tour came courtesy of a pushover try from the Lions, with the Pride’s captain Francke Horn touching down.

14: WrestleMania

Jesse Kriel’s display of strength and determination to wrestle his way free from Leroy Carter saw him score the try that shifted not just the third Test in Soweto but the series as a whole. 

13: Flyin’ Lion

The setup was superb, and the finish was even better as Lions scrumhalf Nico Steyn popped the ball to winger Kelly Mpeku to leave his mark.

12: Special Delivery

The All Blacks are known for their unmatched ball skills from 1-23, and Tupou Vaa’i demonstrated it in the opening Test at Ellis Park, putting Josh Moorby in with a perfectly timed and executed offload.

11: Kings of the Jungle

The Lions roared with this one as Erich Cronje caught Nico Steyn’s box kick out of the air and fed Man of the Match Siba Mahashe. The flanker offloaded back inside for Cronje, who managed to dribble and dot down.

10: Running of the Bulls

Jeandre Rudolph was the instigator, and Curwin Bosch, in his Bulls debut, was the middle man as Stravino Jacobs disregarded Beauden Barrett to score a try he’ll never forget.

9: Signature Swagger

We got the first glimpse of the All Blacks’ signature swagger courtesy of Peter Lakai and Leroy Carter against the Stormers, with the former breaking free and throwing a stylish offload to the latter, who provided a quality finish.

8: Finish and KLA

The best of the 10 tries scored in the fourth and final Test in Baltimore was scored by a counter-attacking Kurt-Lee Arendse, who snapped up a loose ball and ghosted Tupou Vaa’i with a wicked step to seal the deal for the Boks.

7: Doogz Delivers

Damian de Allende delivered as he’s done so many times before when he beat Leroy Carter on the outside and floated the ball to Kurt-Lee Arendse to open the Boks’ account at FNB Stadium.

6: Rolling Thunder

There are few things as beautiful to Bok fans as watching the double world champions maul their way over the try line as emphatically as they did in the Calabash. Malcolm Marx, my Player of the Series, was the man to dot down.

5: Jordan on the Double

Spotting space at the back, Will Jordan put a grubber through for Leroy Carter, who committed both Bok defenders and fired the ball back to Carter to score in the third Test.

4: Side Effect

Refusing to roll over in the second Test in Cape Town, the All Blacks smoothly sent the ball from one side of the field to the other, where Leroy Carter was in acres of space and went over in the corner.

3: Captain Fantastic

Explosive All Blacks captain Ardie Savea sparked this try in the clash at Cape Town Stadium by beating Deon Fourie. The Kiwis kept the ball alive expertly, and it was Damian McKenzie who finished off.

2: Let the Ball Do the Work

A silky sequence of passes saw Ethan Blackadder bag this try and help the tourists survive a scare against the Lions.

1: Durban Delight

The All Blacks dazzled against the Sharks in Durban despite the wet conditions, scoring eight unanswered tries, none better than this team effort finished off by Kyle Preston.

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Quintin van Jaarsveld is a former MDDA-Sanlam SA Local Sports Journalist of the Year and a former three-time Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal Sports Journalist of the Year. Formerly the sports editor and Outstanding Journalist of the Year award winner at The Fever Media Group, deputy editor at eHowzit, editor at SARugby.com and senior staff writer at Rugby365.com, he boasts over 20 years of experience.

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