'It's becoming easier for them': Neil Barnes sizes up Boks

New All Blacks senior assistant coach Neil Barnes has shared his view of the Springboks’ success and his initial thoughts on the upcoming Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour.

Barnes will join Dave Rennie in leading the All Blacks on the new four-Test tour of South Africa and the United States in August and September, a historic series that will start with the Kiwis playing all four South African URC club teams.

While New Zealand holds a 57 per cent win rate against the Boks all-time, South Africa has been chipping away at that figure with five wins in the last six games. Every new chapter written in the famous rivalry is a seismic event in the rugby world, and the backdrop for the 2026 edition will be unprecedented coaching turnover in the New Zealand camp.

When asked at his first All Blacks press conference why he thinks the Springboks have been so dominant in recent years, Barnes highlighted a strength of the Boks, which, coincidentally, is the biggest concern hanging over the All Blacks in the wake of Scott Robertson’s departure.

“They’re in a rich vein (of form) at the moment. They’ve got the cattle, they’ve got smart coaches up there,” Barnes started.

“Everybody goes through periods where they’ve got a group of people that stay together for a while, and I spoke to the likes of Jeff Wilson, he would have been in teams where you become really cohesive the longer you’re together.

“So, yes, we’ve got a bit of a sprint to start with over the first 18 months, but South Africa have got a group of people now that have been together for a while, and it’s becoming easier for them to perform.”

With much of the 2019 Rugby World Cup-winning squad still intact under Rassie Erasmus, facing the Springboks in their own backyard presents an ultimate litmus test to the new-look All Blacks.

Barnes says the tour will be “massively” important for the group.

“If you want to get better, you need to be tested by the best. It’ll be putting a good line in the sand for us, won’t it? I’m looking forward to that, to be honest, walking towards it.”

That said, when the former Italy, Canada and Fiji assistant was asked if he would label the upcoming tour the biggest challenge of his coaching career to date, he replied: “No, to be honest.

“I took on a group of under-19-year-olds, god knows how many years ago. It taught me a lot. When you get to the top of the game, it can be easier because you’ve got all the support around you.

“If you want to go around the grassroots and be the manager, the parent, the person trying to get them to come along, let alone commit and play well. This is easy.”