Nothing epitomised the great Crusaders vs Blues Super Rugby rivalry more than Andrew Mehrtens and Carlos Spencer.
Mehrtens, the impish Cantabrian with a wicked sense of humour, super boot and a haircut presumably executed by his mother.
Spencer, the adopted Aucklander who featured topless in Kiwi biscuit advertisements while bamboozling opponents with an unrivalled bag of playmaking tricks.
The fierce battle between the contrasting duo for the coveted All Blacks' No.10 jersey between 1995-2004 consumed rugby-mad New Zealand and dominated sporting debate.
It brought out the best of the champion five-eighths but also the worst in people.
"It became quite regional and quite nasty, I think more so from the Crusaders and the Canterbury side," Mehrtens told Wide World of Sport ahead of Sunday's Super Rugby Aotearoa blockbuster at Eden Park (1pm AEDT, live and exclusive on Stan Sport).
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"They love their own down there and they loved getting stuck into what they saw as a threat coming down.
"So they did get pretty personal on Carlos a few times which I can't say I'm proud of but I can understand how it happens because we're a bit chip on shoulder, broadly, as a population down there – maybe not the team."
The Blues reigned supreme in the early days of Super Rugby, winning the first two titles in 1996 and 1997 – when they went through the season unbeaten.
Those early glory days in front of packed houses at the Garden of Eden were built off the back of the incredibly dominant Auckland NPC teams of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
"Auckland was ahead of its time, pre-professional rugby, where their provincial players, under the Zinzan Brookes and Sean Fitzpatricks, Olo Browns and Craig Dowds – they were professional before rugby went officially professional," Mehrtens said.
"I can't speak for the current generation of Crusaders but for the older generation like me, who grew up watching the dominant Auckland teams of the 80s, they've been the yardstick, the pacesetter in New Zealand rugby for years and years.
"Canterbury, we like to think we've got a pretty proud history but realistically, throughout that entire history, Auckland has been the big, bad guy."
With Jonah Lomu and Joeli Vidiri running riot on the wings behind an All Black-laden forward pack, those Blues made winning look ridiculously easy, and stylish, as rugby dipped its toes into professional waters.
But as pillars like Fitzpatrick, the Brooke brothers and Michael Jones moved on, a blue and white dynasty was painted over with red and black.
Mehrtens, of course, was at the forefront of masterminding the demise of the city slickers and spawning an incredible Crusaders legacy of 11 Super Rugby titles, including the maiden Aotearoa competition last year.
"Certainly in my era we would test ourselves against Auckland or the Blues and so I'm glad to see the Blues – who with that population and catchment area has been a massive contributor to other teams – it's good to see them back harnessing all the talent that comes from that region and being a real force again," Mehrtens said.
"I love it and I think it's good for New Zealand rugby but I also think it's good for the Crusaders."
But will we actually see a changing of the guard on Sunday afternoon?
Ironically it has taken a former Crusaders stalwart, Leon MacDonald, to coach the Blues back to relevance.
They finished second behind the Crusaders last season and the two teams are unbeaten in 2021 heading into this mouthwatering match-up.
Yet the Blues haven't beaten the Crusaders since 2014, a 12 match losing streak, with All Blacks locks Patrick Tuipulotu and Sam Whitelock the only survivors from that day.
To preview the match, Stan Sport pundit Mehrtens spoke in depth about the chances of a Blues boilover, the highs and lows of Auckland rugby and his memories of one of rugby's fiercest rivalries.
MEHRTS ON WHETHER THE 2021 BLUES ARE THE REAL DEAL OR MERELY PRETENDERS TO THE CRUSADERS' THRONE…
They've still got some in them but they're certainly on the right track. They're getting more out of their talent than four or five years ago and that's not always an immediate process. You look at what's happened with the Reds – it's taken time to build. When results and performance and momentum does break down for a number of seasons, it takes some time to get that back up.
They've got it now and were exciting to watch last year. Their marquee signings last year, Beauden Barrett and Dan Carter, were big boosts for the squad. Beauden is in Japan now and Dan didn't play any games but just having him around and the confidence invested in the franchise by guys like that has had a good effect.
I really enjoy watching them, I think they're the most potent of the New Zealand teams. I know that the Crusaders can score from anywhere and suddenly put together a patch of 10 minutes where they score three tries, and seemingly out of nowhere. But I love the Blues in terms of their potency.
MEHRTS ON THE BLUES' BIGGEST STRIKE WEAPONS…
Rieko Ioane at centre, I think that's fantastic. I think at this level of rugby it's a great position to have him in, with his speed and outside break, setting up that try last week, just with the timing of his pass. I love him at centre.
His brother as well, Akira, who has always been a precocious talent – I really like the role he's playing. I love him at blindside flanker because of his abrasive style of play. When he's the main man, when he's the alpha male at No.8, I think that drives him to be too much in terms of being abrasive and aggressive. I think this No.6 role is a much better role for him.
He doesn't have to be the main go-to guy for everything. They've got Hoskins Sotutu and so he can just fit into his role and then just suddenly bring the big moments, both in attack and defence. I thought his defence last year was fantastic in that No.6 role and he got a chance to do more of it. He's been devastating and I really like what seems to be a growing maturity.
That comes with a slightly different role he finds himself in at No.6, playing a support role to Hoskins Sotutu. The Ioane brothers are massive trump cards for the Blues.
WHY IT TOOK SO LONG FOR THE SLEEPING GIANT BLUES TO RISE AGAIN…
There have been different challenges in the professional era, with players bouncing around, and a lot of talent gets lost from Auckland as it gets dispersed around the country. And the bigger the city is, sometimes the harder it is to really have that cohesion in a group. In Christchurch we're very lucky to have a culture behind us of performance and working hard but some of the implementation of that has been easy in a smaller city where everyone's close by.
Sydney has its challenges as well – in a big city it is harder. But knowing Blues coach Leon MacDonald, playing alongside him, I had no doubt. It's easy in hindsight but I had no doubt that he could bring a lot to the team. He did a lot with Tasman to build that up into a force out of pretty humble beginnings.
He's a good bloke, he knows footy, he's a guy who will always work hard for the betterment of his players – it's never about him in terms of results. And also a good team around him. Having Tana Umaga there in the right role as an assistant coach – it seems a lot more cohesive and ticking all the right boxes.
Tana's obviously got enormous mana and respect from the Polynesian players in particular but he also crosses over and gets a lot of respect from every rugby player. That's a significant aspect in Auckland so having him is great. The mix they've got there, the backroom and board, the whole organisation seems more cohesive than it was several years ago.
I'm glad for them – I won't go as far as wanting them to win on Sunday but I'm glad to see them getting more out of their resources. I hope to see the same with the Waratahs in Australian rugby as well.
MEHRTS' MEMORIES OF AN EPIC CRUSADERS-BLUES RIVALRY…
In Super Rugby the Blues won the first two titles, the second year in '97 they went unbeaten. They had a draw at the start of the year but didn't lose a game that season.
Then for us to suddenly, somehow get onto that stage in the third final of Super Rugby in '98, at Eden Park, where the previous two finals had been played. And then even more incredibly we got ourselves off the stage with the trophy. I still to this day do not know how that happened but it was a source of immense pride for us in the Crusaders.
Also based on where we'd come from that year – we only won one of the first five rounds and it was only an 11 round competition in those days. So over a third of the round-robin matches had been played and we were last. So how we managed to get there… things fell into place for us but I don't think the Blues played their best final and we came away with it.
By 1999 they'd lost Zinzan Brooke and Sean Fitzpatrick so they were going through a rebuilding period. Then the 2003 final, the Crusaders had won four titles in five years, through 2002, including going unbeaten, winning every game in 2002. At the end of that season in the domestic competition, Auckland won the national title and from then on they slingshotted into the Blues. So in 2003 we went to Eden Park to play the final, having won four titles in five years and got beaten by the Blues.
I remember that – a resurgence of the Blues' success. Tough to be on the receiving end of it but it was good for New Zealand rugby as a whole. So I lived through the big trough of the Blues and the two highs as well. I've got a good, strong connection with Auckland in general.
We had the Ranfurly Shield in my early days playing for Canterbury, held it for a pretty long period of time – for us – and then we got beaten by Auckland, came down and won it at Lancaster Park. It's a really colourful history going back over decades and I'm sure the players are all aware of that history between those two regions of New Zealand.
WHETHER HE COULD HAVE EVER DONE A CARTER AND PLAYED FOR THE BLUES…
Yeah it would have been unthinkable. Certainly in Canterbury, pre-Super Rugby, it was basically you could go anywhere except for Auckland, and they possibly felt the same.
Although they probably didn't care as much as we cared, down in the South Island. As we moved forward, Super Rugby saw a bit more fluidity in players moving around, particularly when they could play for their home provinces but play for a different region in Super Rugby. We were very lucky, in our really successful period, to have a prop called Kevin Nepia who came down from Auckland and he was fantastic. He got welcomed in, was a real integral part of the Crusaders.
But yeah, there's still that feeling for the Crusaders with the Auckland thing. It's a rivalry that is a lot less vitriolic, perhaps, than what it used to be but it's still there and it's still a big match. And they also know that across the board the Blues have the most potential of all the New Zealand teams to get to a high level of skill, attack and maintain that level of threat for the longest period against the Crusaders.
The Hurricanes beat the Crusaders last year but the Blues still looked the most dangerous. It all builds up to a fantastic spectacle, a fantastic match on Sunday.
THE MOST INTENSE RIVALRY IN THE HISTORY OF NZ RUGBY…
I'm excited to see the Blues doing well again. At times in our history we've had trouble with the Hurricanes and so on but the big dog has still been Auckland.
I can't speak for these Crusaders but they could win all the other games this season but if they lost twice to the Blues, they won't see it as a success. There is that rivalry and I think it's fantastic. It's a strong one, a proud one and it's a passionate one.
Some statisticians might prove me wrong but I think it's the most intense rivalry in the history of New Zealand rugby.
STAN SPORT STATS ON THE CRUSADERS-BLUES RIVALRY…
– These two team have contested two Super Rugby finals against each other – the Crusaders winning in 1998 and the Blues winning in 2003 (both at Eden Park).
– All four of the Blues' wins against the Crusaders since 2007 have been at home.
– The Blues are currently on a five game winning streak at home, their longest since 2010-11 when they won seven straight.
– The Crusaders have won 13 of their last 14 Super Rugby matches, including their last five. The Hurricanes in round seven of Super Rugby last season are the only team to beat them in this period.
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