Dave Rennie has been the All Blacks head coach for a couple of months. Rassie Erasmus has been building Springbok depth for eight years. After a scratchy 38-21 win over the Stormers in Cape Town opened New Zealand's tour of South Africa, Rennie made that arithmetic his answer to the critics.
"That's what we're working on," Rennie said of squad depth. "Rassie's been doing that for eight years, we're a couple of months into it, but we've brought over a good squad and not a lot of the guys that played on Friday had big minutes in the Test series.
"That's pleasing for us; we've got some good footy into them, some tough footy, and I think they will be better for that."
Rennie, who replaced Scott Robertson earlier this year, has won his first three Tests in the Nations Championship against France, Italy and Ireland. The Stormers game was the first of three provincial fixtures before the Rugby's Greatest Rivalry series proper, and he used it to look at fringe players. New Zealand media were unimpressed. Rennie was not moved off his plan.
"There will be an enormous amount of changes for the side that's going to play the Sharks on Tuesday, so tours like this are great for us to test and build depth," he said. "Heading into a World Cup next year, we're going to know a lot more about the players that we've got here and that we use beyond this tour."
Two uncapped players came off the bench in Cape Town, tighthead Siale Lauaki and Josh Jacomb, and Rieko Ioane returned to the side after missing out on the wider Nations Championship squad.
"What a great moment for those guys, you play your first game for the All Blacks. They got to wear the jerseys, sing the national anthem, do the Haka and then play in a fantastic stadium," Rennie said. "Siale's a big man, you can see the impact he can have on a game with that last scrum. I thought Josh was really composed when he came on."
The schedule is the hard part. Three Tests in South Africa, two of them at altitude in Johannesburg, before a fourth on neutral ground in the United States. Springboks great Schalk Burger thinks that is where New Zealand's attacking style becomes a liability.
"The big issue for the All Blacks is the way they play. There's going to be nothing in these four Test matches, but it's four games back-to-back, so it's depth," Burger said on the Boks Unpacked podcast.
He also suspects the series gets harder for South Africa as it goes, not easier.
"I think the All Blacks will get better the longer the series goes on; it's like facing a fast bowler," Burger said. "The first time you face the Boks, you know what's coming but the intensity of South Africa and the vibe shocks you. Once you've faced it once, you get used to it, and the line speed gets a bit easier and you find a way to unpick the defence, but then the depth comes into question."
All Blacks great Justin Marshall, on the same panel, set a realistic bar for the tour.
"I think we would be happy with that," Marshall said of arriving in the United States 2-1 down. "If we can get out of here having not lost the series by that stage, that would be a win big time for the All Blacks. When I was thinking about this tour, our full focus was winning that first Test because then you're on the front foot in the series. The other team's playing catch-up."
Marshall, speaking on the GBRANZ podcast, does not think the venue for the opener is an accident. Ellis Park hosts the first Test, and he remembers what that arrival feels like from the 1996 tour.
"Driving into Ellis Park with the bus going towards that tunnel when we were going there in '96 for that last game, obviously they were a little bit upset we had won the series," he said. "I remember them pushing the bus and the bus rocking. It was going from side to side with the flags waving and the fans going 'Bokke, Bokke'.
"They will look to use all forms of intimidation, of familiarity, of altitude, of supporters and they're very passionate."
New Zealand face the Sharks in Durban on Tuesday, then the Bulls on the Highveld, before the first Test at Ellis Park on 22 August.
