Canan Moodie will exchange the couch and the blanket for the real deal against All Blacks

There is a list of Springboks who have never beaten the All Blacks in a Test — players who played their hearts out against the arch-enemy but never got over the line.

Then there is Canan Moodie, who finds himself on the other side of the spectrum, amongst a fortunate group who haven’t tasted defeat against the New Zealanders. The Bulls back has two wins from two starts against the All Blacks, while the Boks are on a four-match winning streak against them.

Moodie ran out at outside centre in the first game against the All Blacks in a warm-up Test ahead of the 2023 Rugby World Cup at Twickenham. On that day, as Bok assistant coach Felix Jones described it in Chasing the Sun 2, the Springboks “gave the All Blacks the biggest beating in the history of rugby”.

Last year, in their Rugby Championship match in Cape Town, Moodie was on the wing when the Boks came from behind to seal a nail-biting win.

Having been on media duty this week, it’s safe to say that Moodie is in line to take on the All Blacks again this weekend when the two teams clash in the highly anticipated Rugby Championship match at Eden Park.

While Moodie’s record is impressive, it’s not as great as the All Blacks’ unbeaten run at Saturday’s match venue — they haven’t lost a Test at Eden Park since 1994. Even more impressive is that they haven’t lost to the Springboks there in 88 years.

Those records have been a massive focus ahead of the Test, with Bok attack coach Tony Brown calling this the biggest Test match since the Rugby World Cup final, which the Boks won by a single point in Paris almost two years ago.

Adding to the theatre of the occasion is a special milestone for superstar All Blacks loose forward Ardie Savea, who will be playing his 100th Test in the black jersey on Saturday.

Moodie, who will play his first match on New Zealand soil, says there will definitely be pressure at Eden Park this weekend.

“The magnitude of the match … there's going to be pressure. The All Blacks have a lot to play for — obviously the record at Eden Park, Ardie Savea’s 100th game — there's a lot on the line for them,” Moodie said from Auckland on Tuesday.

“We know what we need to do. We are focused on doing the job on Saturday, and I think all of the other things are just external factors that we need to take into account. But the game is very important to us, and we will do everything we need to in order to get a result on Saturday.”

Moodie made his debut for the Bulls after South Africa left Super Rugby to move north and play in European competitions such as the United Rugby Championship.

So, all of his memories about rugby in New Zealand are of him waking up early, taking his blanket, and watching from the comfort of the couch in his parents’ home in Paarl. But the two matches he’s played against the All Blacks have prepared him for what’s to come on Saturday. The opportunity to face the All Blacks is something he will never take for granted.

“I’ve played two Tests against the All Blacks — one at Twickenham and one in the Cape. For me, it’s a huge honour,” Moodie said.

“I can’t even explain the magnitude of the opportunity. As a kid, I woke up early in the morning to watch these matches. To be part of it is something really special.

“It's a great honour for me as a young player to be part of something so big.”