The recent All Blacks test against the Springboks was described as "brutal" by Richie McCaw, yet significant afterwards was the sight of both teams mingling on the Ellis Park pitch.
Friendships - and there are many between the teams, including Jerome Kaino's with Schalk Burger - were resumed. It had begun in the build-up, with many of the players getting re-acquainted on the flight to Johannesburg - some of the Boks travelling after their loss to the Wallabies the previous night, the All Blacks following their win over Argentina in Christchurch.
It was the continuation of a closeness between the two teams which flows from the top - Steve Hansen is good mates with Boks coach Heyneke Meyer - and it serves to highlight the relationship between the All Blacks and the Wallabies, which is nowhere near as cordial.
There is generally an open invitation for players to visit each others' changing rooms after a New Zealand v South Africa test, which was the case last weekend when Hansen and the players went en masse into an area which only moments before had been enemy territory.
The same doesn't apply to the Aussies.
So next Saturday's test between Australia and NZ in Sydney to decide the Rugby Championship could be described as the perfect storm.
The championship is at stake, but so too is the Bledisloe Cup. If Australia win at ANZ Stadium it would be a huge boost to a team who haven't beaten the All Blacks since 2011.
If they were to secure the Bledisloe, which they haven't held since 2002, they would need to do it again at Eden Park a week later - a place where they haven't won since 1986, but that famous Aussie confidence probably wouldn't be lacking.
The rivalry has built from a series of incidents - many of them physical assaults against captain Richie McCaw from the likes of Quade Cooper and Scott Higginbotham - and the private feeling among the All Blacks that, put simply, the Wallabies view them with a general lack of respect.
For New Zealand and South Africa, where rugby is the national game, there is a recognition of each other's achievements in the sport which doesn't apply to our transtasman neighbours.
Australia coach Michael Cheika has been fulsome in his praise for the All Blacks after his team's victory over the Pumas in Argentina, which followed the win over the Boks in Brisbane. But the actions of the former Waratahs head coach in visiting the referee changing room at halftime during a Super Rugby match between his side and the visiting Blues this past season has only served to worsen relations.
Cheika's side got the rub of the green in terms of Jaco Peyper's decisions in the second half, but, despite Peyper being on a final warning with Sanzar, he was given only a slap on the wrist. A stronger sanction could have ruled him out of not only the Rugby Championship but also, potentially, the World Cup.
What new twist will the rivalry take in Sydney next Saturday?
