Ex-All Black: Greatest Rivalry tour ‘so much more beneficial to us' than the Springboks

Former All Blacks scrum-half Brad Weber insists that Dave Rennie will be getting more out of the Greatest Rivalry series irrespective of what happens this weekend. New Zealand went 2-1 down to the Springboks in the four-Test tour after the hosts claimed a 29-24 victory in Soweto. The arch-rivals are now in Baltimore ahead of the final clash where Rennie's men will be looking to level matters. However, even if they don't get the result they want in the US, Weber has claimed that it has been a more successful exercise for the All Blacks. All Blacks have blooded 'so many new players' 'Don't you think this tour has been so beneficial to us? This has been so much more beneficial to us than it has been to the Springboks,' he told The Breakdown. 'We've got to blood so many new players, against the URC teams and then a few guys through this Test match period as well.' Rennie only took charge of his first game in July, six months after NZ Rugby decided to sack Scott Robertson, but there has been impressive progress so far. Whether they can improve enough to win the Rugby World Cup remains to be seen, however, with the Springboks boss Rassie Erasmus building a remarkable dynasty over the past eight years. 'What we can do is to build these combinations over this tour, though the Bledisloe Tests and through the Nations Championship at the end of the year, that's where we start building these combinations,' Weber said. 'It takes time. If anything, the South Africans have done what we did back [in 2011 and 2015]. If you think about the golden era from 2008 to 2015, we built combinations and we kept the team pretty similar. 'Obviously, guys broke in, some guys retired, but by the end of the 2015 World Cup, that team was super, super experienced and they just dominated world rugby for a couple of years. 'That's what the South Africans have built. It took a long time and it's going to take us time to get back to that level, but what we have to do is keep at it, trust Dave Rennie and trust the group he's going to build around him.' All Blacks coach identifies the key area his side must improve in against 'dominant' Springboks More experienced Springboks The Springboks had 355 more caps than the All Blacks in the third clash, but New Zealand Test centurion Mils Muliaina is supremely confident that more time in the saddle for their young players will see them reach the level of the back-to-back world champions. 'What stats don't illustrate is the pressure and how to handle pressure, and that's what South Africa know and do well because they know each other,' he said. 'You're not unsure, you know when you look into the guy's eyes, you know that he's on the same page, but that's got to be built over time. 'You've got to go through this pain. You spoke about 2008, we went through a lot of hurt and this is part of it. Those guys will be hurting right now, you've got to go through that pain. 'We've now lost our leader but who steps up? Who's going to be the next person that steps up? That's the stuff I'm looking forward to. 'When I look at the opportunities [we're creating], we're not far away and that excites me, whereas South Africa are comfortable, they know what they can do, they know how to win that momentum back, even when they're down by 12 points. 'We're going to get there, I've got no doubt that we will, and this tour has illustrated that, and we've built some really good depth.' READ MORE: World Rugby has drawn 2027 global showpiece's potential final into a quarter-final despite knowing exactly what it was doing