Jordie Barrett and Rieko Ioane are on their way to becoming the next great All Blacks midfield, with the latter hailing the second-five's impact on his own game.
With great partnerships of the past spoiling rugby fans, New Zealand have struggled to fill the large boots left by Ma'a Nonu and Conrad Smith.
While many have loomed as heirs apparent, injuries and inconsistency have derailed partnerships from developing, but that dry spell may be over, with the budding Barrett and Ioane solidifying as All Blacks coach Ian Foster's go-to midfield.
The duo are expected to be named as Foster's preferred No.12 and No.13 for their Rugby Championship clash against South Africa on Saturday.
"It's good," Ioane said, of the partnership." Jordie's an outstanding player and last Saturday was no different.
"You saw the type of player he is, very physical and very confrontational. I've always said that it helps my game as a No.13, because we're two bigger bodies, and I'm sure that's what the coaches expect from us.
"He was phenomenal last week and I'm looking forward to it."
The partnership has been enabled by an ever-evolving All Blacks attack, with last year's up-and-down season laying the platform for much-needed improvement. With the likes of Richie Mo'unga, Damian McKenzie and Beauden Barrett running the show, Ioane hopes to be on the receiving end of more All Blacks highlights.
"There have definitely been a lot of tweaks from last year to this year, and it's things we identified as a team towards the end of the year and the start of our year," he said.
"Schmidty [Joe Schmidt] and Foz [Foster] are at the forefront of that, and they're really leading the charge. Like I said before, our game-drivers - Richie, DMac and Baz bossing us around - they're masters of their craft and we're just trying to play off of them."
While the All Blacks are clear on their gameplan, there is less certainty around what to expect from South Africa at God Media Stadium Mt Smart.
Ioane admits he's not one to keep an eye on the opposition, but is preparing to face the best version of the Springboks yet.
"Hopefully, we can post 40 again, that would be good, but I'm not too sure what's going to unfold," he said. "We know that both teams are preparing to put out their best performance and, hopefully, it's a cracker.
"I don't watch too much footy, but definitely their wingers… I think [Moodie] played against us last year and caused us a bit of havoc under the high ball.
"We're going to have things in place to counter that, but we don't look too much at individuals, as we do team v team, and I back our boys."
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