Ace former All Blacks wing Joe Rokocoko has talked about the way the New Zealanders turned around a period of dominance the Springboks enjoyed over them in 2009-10.
Now retired, Rokocoko, who played 68 Tests, and scored 46 tries, for New Zealand, is coaching with the Racing 92 in Paris.
Fifteen of his Tests were against South Africa, and he scored nine tries against them.
Rokocoko told news24.com that he always made certain his preparation was correct against South Africa.
"When you faced the Springboks you had to be up for it both mentally and physically because if you weren't, you would get bullied.
"As All Blacks, we always prided ourselves on the Tests against the Springboks, which were the pinnacle. Mentally, you also had to be attuned and we would say to ourselves, 'OK, we are going to play against the giants.'
"Once you stepped onto that field there was no holding back. We had to reach another level to match the Springbok forward pack.
"What I will always remember about facing the Boks is the high balls I had to field," he said.
But whatever the contest there was always respect between the sides.
"The Boks were ruthless and bullies on the field, but off the field, they were just genuine people to hang around with," he said.
The Springboks of 2009 had changed coaches after their 2007 World Cup triumph and under Peter de Villiers they were to win three consecutive Tests against the All Blacks.
"They built up momentum and we had to change our game plan," Rokocoko said.
"The kicking game came into play in 2009 and we realised that the Springboks would always come with a return kick. In 2010, we changed our game plan and our coaches focused on how to negate the Springboks' primary strengths – kicking and set-piece play.
"We had to be smart in order to nullify their high ball and lineout dominance. In training, we practised high balls and when we kicked, we made sure that it was deep kicks which made their big boys run around.
"At Eden Park in 2010, we took all the Springboks' strengths away and my job was chasing kicks and applying pressure. We also increased the ball-in-play time and knew that they would fatigue in the final quarter.
"We broke down small details to take their strengths away, won the Test match 32-12 and never lost to them in the 2010 Tri Nations," he said.
Rokocoko said he wasn't surprised with South Africa's 2019 World Cup success. While all the talk was about the All Blacks, England and Ireland, the Springboks were the sleeping giants. He put that down to coach Rassie Erasmus' ability to bring players together.
Rokocoko said he had experienced that when Erasmus was the Stormers' coach in Super Rugby. The Blues had played them at Eden Park and were soundly beaten.
"He was for all the players and somebody they wanted to play for as they enjoyed training. You can tell he is a special coach because of what he had done with previous teams. For him to take over the Springboks was on another level…The Boks have players now who are very mobile and they have the skill-set of offloading and keeping the ball alive. It's hard enough trying to tackle a big guy but when he smashes you and offloads to another big guy, it carries some serious momentum," he said.