The gloves are off...Strolling into New Zealand as the best rugby side in the world is like walking into Roman Abramovich's office sticking down a blank cheque, how much are you worth?
New Zealand would claim to the best in the world even if they were ranked fourth. The same will be said by South Africans, even if they lose this weekend. Why? Because they won the World Cup. South Africa would swap everything, barring the Webb Ellis trophy for a win in Wellington this weekend.
In 86 years of competition, South Africa has only tasted victory on seven occasions in the Land of the Long White Cloud, three of which have come in Wellington with only one in the Tri-Nations era, in 1998.
The Springboks are noticeably confident of improving on that record. Looking at the stats and recent performances it's difficult to see why, but if they're in pugnacious mood their teeth are sharpened then they're a match for anyone.
England weren't much of a warm-up rolling over like filo pastry in both Tests, but their heavyweight front-row should give them superiority in the scrum, even if their line-out could struggle against the world's foremost artists in Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha.
The new laws surrounding the quick throw-ins may offer a get-out clause and Mils Muliaina will undoubtedly get plenty of opportunities to run from deep.
The tackle area was the height of controversy during the Super 14 and the interest will be huge, if only from the bench. Considering the physical history between these two, resembling more like a street fight than a boxing brawl, the battle for supremacy could see more than the odd-trip to the blood-bin.
The weather forecasts similar baltic blowing gales that forced Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll to rethink about a trip to the sunbed instead of the ice-baths.
Selection has thrown up a thirsty pool of debate, notably Adi Jacobs at centre for the Boks and Andy Ellis at scrum-half for the All-Blacks.
Jacobs needs to prove he can step up in the big games while Ellis is not seen as a suitable replacement for Byron Kelleher or Justin Marshall, so he can go a long way to eradicating those critics if he staves off the dirty paws of Juan Smith and Schalk Burger.
It's a young bunch of All-Blacks but they've proven time and time again adapting to change is seemless and sophisticated.
The bonus for both sides is that they are both venturing into unknown territory, so this is merely a showcase of the future of international rugby. Yeah right!