Ma'a Nonu and Conrad Smith will tomorrow night equal the record for the most caps together for a midfield combination, matching the 55 caps set by Irish pairing Brian O'Driscoll and Gordon D'Arcy. Rugby writer Steve Hepburn walks down memory lane to find some outstanding All Black midfield combinations.
Mark Nicholls & Bert Cooke
Cooke was one of the first genuine stars of the All Blacks and is ranked one of the all-time greats. Nicholls was also not too shabby, and notched up 10 tests - making him a mainstay of that era - spread over nine years.
They played together only three times, twice on the Invincibles tour in 1924-25, and once in one of the test wins in 1930 over the Lions. Nicholls also played in the No 10 jersey and other positions in the backline.
Cooke only weighed 62kg. To put this in perspective, he was more than 10kg lighter than Fumiaki Tanaka, although he was 1.75m tall.
He could run like the wind and was said to have a brilliant chip and chase. Scored 121 tries in 131 matches in his first-class career.
Nicholls played for Wellington the first year out of school and played for the All Blacks after he had just turned 20.
He had two brothers, Doc and Harry, who also played for the All Blacks.
If Cooke or Nicholls was not involved in the All Black midfield at this time, Aucklander Fred Lucas got a start and was an outstanding player in his own right.
Ian MacRae & Bill Davis
The duo from Hawkes Bay came together firstly in black and white and then in the black jersey in the 1960s.
This was an era when Hawkes Bay was dominant in Ranfurly Shield rugby and that was partly on the back of its midfield pairing.
Both made their international debuts on the All Black tour of the United Kingdom and France in 1963-64, playing some tour matches. But it was not until a couple of years later that the duo came together to play in tests.
MacRae was a big bloke to play in the midfield in those days, weighing in at 86kg, and he set up plenty of ball for his forwards.
Outside him, Davis was a lightning-fast centre, who could make the most of any half break fashioned by MacRae.
The duo played every test on the 1967 tour of the United Kingdom and France, which but for a foot-and-mouth outbreak in the United Kingdom resulting in the All Blacks being unable to visit Ireland, could have seen the All Blacks fashion a grand slam.
They played together in the record win over Wales in 1969 but were separated on the 1970 tour of South Africa when Grahame Thorne and Bryan Williams came on the scene.
Bill Osborne & Bruce Robertson
Robertson, the prince of centres, was an ideal foil to the pugnacious and tough-as-teak Osborne, although they should have played more tests together than they did.
Robertson would come close to being the best centre to have worn the No 13 jersey for the All Blacks. Had a ton of speed and could time his pass to his outsides at just the right time.
The duo went to South Africa in 1976, when Osborne had just turned 21, but did not play together until the Lions toured the following year.
They were the glue which held the All Blacks together in a grand slam in 1978.
Osborne was often unavailable, preferring to focus on his business career, but in 1980 they came together again to tour Wales and form part of the side which blitzed Wales in the centenary test.
That was the last time they played together. Robertson gave the game away the following year when Osborne was unavailable.
Osborne came back to play Australia in 1982 and then was picked in the aborted South African tour in 1985. Went with the Cavaliers a year later in the final act of his career.
Walter Little& Frank Bunce
When these two first played a test together - against a World XV in Christchurch in 1992 - Bunce played at second five-eighth and Little was at centre.
It was not until the test series in Australia later that year that the two players swapped positions, and there they would remain for the next five years.
They played a leading role in the All Blacks going so close to winning the World Cup in 1995 and then had a great couple of years following the near-miss in Johannesburg.
The North Harbour pair complemented each other. Little, who played with a badly injured knee all his career, had the skill and trickery to put players in gaps and also could brush off tackles. He was not a big player - just 76kg - but had the ability to beat his man.
Bunce was more solid, and could spy a gap and was physically tough. He had a knack for scoring vital tries and making big hits in the midfield.
Bunce flirted with a French club contract in 1998 and was cut from the All Blacks. The same year, Little's knees caught up with him and his career in the black jersey ended.
Ma'a Nonu & Conrad Smith
The two men from Wellington have been virtually inseparable since 2008.
They first played together in a test in Wellington in 2008, the first test after the World Cup disaster of the previous year. It was raining - surprise, surprise - and Nonu scored a try.
Nonu in the black jersey is a beast of a player. He carts the ball up with searing pace and his 100kg-plus frame is hard to stop.
His game has matured in recent years and is no longer the Hitro Okesene of the All Blacks backline, but links with his outside men when appropriate.
Smith is the yin to Nonu's yang. He is a qualified lawyer, did you know? A rock ondefence who seems to always turn up at just the right time to snuff out a promising opposition attack.
Was missed when he took the later part of last season off.
Both are in their 30s and look odds-on to be the starting midfield for the All Blacks next year at the World Cup.
