100 years of epic clashes: The “Incomparables” finally make history at Loftus

South Africa may have won the 1995 World Cup, a historic day that will forever be etched in the history of the country, for more reasons than just rugby.

But it was a year later that, in rugby terms, the rubicon was crossed for the All Blacks, and the sweetest of victories happened at Loftus Versfeld that overcame decades of defeat and gave some solace to a group of players who had been heartbroken the year before.

The first tour of the professional era, and a group of players marshalled by Jon Hart and led by Sean Fitpatrick came to South Africa for an epic tour - one that has not since been repeated - and to make history.

The Boks had never been beaten in a test series by the All Blacks on South African soil. Hometown referees and a history of factors were always offered as excuses, but the 1996 team that came into town was hell-bent on revenge and on conquering a country that caused them so much despair over the years on tours.

The four game series - the first being the Cape Town Tri Nations game - was followed by tests at King’s Park, Loftus and Ellis Park, and the All Blacks knew they needed to hit hard and hit early.

They won the Cape Town game with ease and wrapped up the Tri Nations title with it, and then moved to Durban, where Joel Stransky’s kicking couldn’t stop the All Blacks from heading to Loftus with the goal in mind.

With early tries to Jeff Wilson, who scored a brace, and Zinzan Brooke, the Boks gave everything, with Joost van der Westhuizen, Ruben Kruger and Hannes Strydom scoring tries of their own.

As Ian Jones would later put it, it was “one of the most physical games I’ve ever played in.”

With Christian Cullen causing havoc as well, the Boks launched a late onslaught and came close, but two big penalties by replacement Jon Preston - one a 50m bomb - and a memorable Zinzan Brooke dropgoal ended the Boks hopes, and ended the decades long drought for the All Blacks.

As Sean Fitzpatrick told Rugbypass, it was the most memorable day of a very long career.

“There is one of those two defeats I had against the Springboks I would like back! It would have been nice to have that one in the locker but the games I remember as being the best would be in 1996 when we became the first All Blacks to win a series in South Africa. It was the first tour of the professional era and we took 36 players away and really targeted that series win. John Hart did a fantastic job after Laurie Mains had developed the team and guys like Christian Cullen came into the team.

“Winning the series at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria was very special and as we came off the pitch Jonah Lomu and the guys who had not played did a Haka for us. That All Black pack wasn’t overly big but our generation would say it was the best rugby we played and we were the fittest and fastest we had ever been.

“To walk off the pitch and be hugged by Don Clarke, the great All Blacks full back, who was living in South Africa and hear him say “Thank you Sean for doing something no other All Black team has done – I can now die a happy man!” It was the high point of our careers and to be honest 1995 and the final wasn’t really spoken about.”

And with that the 1995 memory was gone. And the All Blacks had proved they could win in South Africa, and since then have made it look easy at times.