In the short, sharp world of modern rugby, New Zealand and South Africa have ripped up the form book: the long, old-school tour is back.

The normal All Black schedule of hotel, gym and stadium, with the odd coffee shop visit thrown in, has been swapped for more than five weeks of rambling relatively slowly across South Africa.

Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour is already rolling in South Africa, with three out of the four midweek games played by New Zealand against provincial teams, before four Tests, including a money-spinning final game at the home of the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens in the United States. The tour will return to New Zealand in 2030 and is changing modern rugby.

The holy grail of rugby

Former All Blacks second-rower Ian Jones was part of New Zealand’s last full tour of South Africa 30 years ago. Jones’ squad played eight games on that tour, becoming the first All Blacks team to win a series in South Africa when they triumphed 2-1.

Jones now helps to run the All Blacks Experience museum in Auckland and looks at the Test jersey of New Zealand captain Sean Fitzpatrick from the decisive winning Test in Pretoria in 1996 most days. For Jones and his teammates, touring South Africa and winning provided the defining challenge of their rugby careers.

“You had to prepare for a physical war – that’s exactly their [South Africa’s] mentality, they had to physically dominate you, and you had to stand up to that test,” Jones says.

“Looking back at the three Tests we played over there, we were physically and mentally exhausted. It took you to the limit. You had to give every ounce of your being to take on the Springboks.

“That’s what it felt like, wave after wave. It’s not the 80 minutes on the field you see, it’s the whole week of scrutiny and intensity; the pride that everyone in the country of South Africa has. You’ve got to handle that as well.

“When you played those guys, especially over there, it’s always been the kind of Holy Grail for All Blacks.

“You have this beautiful love-hate relationship with the South Africans in general. They truly respect you, like we do them. But when you have that much respect, you also want to beat the opposition, and that brings this amazing intensity that you can use.

“You’re hoping and desperate that these current guardians of that jersey as All Blacks get to feel that same incredible feeling. The six weeks we had there, it’s going to be something that I’ll always look back on, and I want this touring team to feel the same ... these guys now write their own legacy, their own part of history.”

A challenging history

South Africa and New Zealand have played rugby for 105 years. The Springboks have won four World Cups, while the All Blacks have three. For generations, each country has brought out the best in each other on the field, but also lived through some painful history together.

South Africa’s apartheid regime made the game’s greatest rivalry untenable for more than a decade. In 1981, protesters in New Zealand forced the cancellation of the second tour game in Hamilton against Waikato.

Future South African president Nelson Mandela was in his prison cell in Robben Island and recalled the news of the cancellation being like “the sun came out”. Rugby and politics had not only mixed, but created shockwaves across South Africa and the world.

John Robbie played rugby for Ireland and the British and Irish Lions, and after settling in South Africa was due to play for the Springboks in 1985 against the All Blacks.

The tour was cancelled after two Auckland lawyers successfully argued a tour of apartheid-era South Africa was against the New Zealand Rugby Football Union’s constitutional purpose to promote and foster the game.

Robbie went on to become a successful journalist in South Africa, using his platform to speak out against apartheid. Having lived through the Springboks’ isolation from Test rugby, he is revelling in seeing a strong rivalry reborn in the professional era.

“There is this feeling that there’s almost a God-given right that South Africa and New Zealand are the two best sides [in the world], and then I think what’s happened is that there’s so much rugby now,” he says.

“When we were young, you could remember games or series decades later. Now they just melt into one, with the exception of World Cups and the Lions tour. When you look at the South African forward dominance and physicality versus the All Black speed and skill, it’s almost like a test of systems at its best.”

Connecting with the country

Former New Zealand winger Jeff Wilson will be in Johannesburg for Saturday’s first Test at Ellis Park (Sunday, 1.10am, AEST). In 1996, he played in the final losing Test against the Springboks at the iconic stadium. Now he will work from the more comfortable confines of the commentary box with Sky Sport New Zealand.

The All Blacks have already dispatched the Stormers in Cape Town, the Sharks in Durban and the Bulls in Pretoria. Former All Black Ma’a Nonu’s pre-match haka for his current club the Sharks against his former team captivated the stadium and Wilson believes that these midweek games before the Tests are crucial to engaging South Africa.

“There are provincial games, and there’s the ability to connect with the locals a bit more – you don’t get so much in your bubble,” Wilson says.

“I think that’s what makes this tour significantly different – you’re moving around a lot more, and you’re facing different challenges as they come along.

“And then there’s the fact that there are four Test matches on top of four other games. And anyone who knows [about] playing South Africa, that’s the pinnacle for me of challenges in rugby.

“You talk about the Rugby World Cup, but playing away from home in someone else’s backyard and then playing a team who’s on top of their game like South Africa, you don’t get a bigger challenge ... They make it as challenging as possible to be successful, and they’re such a proud and great rugby nation. When you go there, it tests you on every stretch of the imagination as an athlete, as a player.”

How it will affect the rugby world

Due to the Greatest Rivalry tour, Argentina will not play New Zealand this year and the Rugby Championship has been scrapped. The Wallabies are also left without a similar money-spinning tour that could similarly engage the Australian public.

Wilson believes rugby has been forced to innovate and rip up the traditional calendar, largely unchanged since the advent of professionalism when he toured South Africa in 1996.

“Ultimately, you want to see the best teams play against each other – there’s a reason in cricket that everyone wants to watch England play Australia and India play Australia, you want the best to play each other,” Wilson says.

“There’s no doubt that the tour impacts Argentina, but I also think the advent of the Nations Championship has been an outstanding innovation for the game and I think people like variety.

“I think they like things that are different; they like events, they like singular moments. Next year, we’ve got an Anzac Test match, for example. I think the game is finally understanding that they have to listen to what its fans want.

“There’s no doubt the Rugby Championship has served a purpose. But to me, I think in some ways, it wasn’t something that needed to be played every year. I think it’s something that can be brought back when it’s necessary ...

“When you’re fighting for that status of being the best rugby country in the world, that comes with expectation, and it comes with competition, and it comes with a rivalry.

“For New Zealanders, in particular, there’s only 5 million of us, and we are trying to compete at everything with the rest of the world. We try and punch above our weight as best we can, and with rugby union, it’s our chance to be the best in the world.

“I don’t think anyone can argue with the fact that they are the two best teams in the world.”