It wouldn't surprise if the Springboks-All Blacks test series is decided by a goalkicker

Chances are high the South Africa-New Zealand test series starting on Saturday will be decided by a goalkicker.

Fortunately for both teams, they have some sharpshooters. The Springboks can roll out Handre Pollard, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Mannie Libbok. The All Blacks can put up Ruben Love, Damian McKenzie and Beauden Barrett. All have made vital goalkicks.

But in the history of series between the teams dating to 1921, the winning goalkicker hasn't always been the obvious one. Here's some standouts.

Morkel was one of two in the Springboks tour party who had test experience from before World War I. Morkel starred on the 1912-13 tour of Europe at fullback and returned for the first-ever series against New Zealand a little slower at age 32 but still a threat. New Zealand won the first test 13-5 at Carisbrook and South Africa had to win the second at Eden Park. They were 5-5 when Morkel hit a great drop goal, then worth four points, in the 68th minute. He'd taken a clearance kick, ran a few yards and let fly. South Africa won 9-5 and it was the last points of the series. The third test in Wellington, dubbed ‘The Rugby Championship of the World,’ was played in driving rain and mud and finished 0-0. Morkel was acclaimed for saving the Boks with immaculate line kicks. The series was drawn.

Geffin was taken prisoner by the Germans in World War II and, in camp, learned under 1924 Bok Bill Payn how to goalkick in bare feet. The tighthead prop debuted in the 1949 series. In the first test in Cape Town, Jack van der Schyff missed three shots and Geffin took over. His world record five penalties beat New Zealand 15-11 from 11-0 down. South Africa won the second test at Ellis Park and the series was clinched in the third test in Durban by 9-3 with three more Geffin penalties. Swept 4-0, New Zealand didn't have a kicker of the quality of Geffin, who contributed 32 of South Africa's 47 points and was forever known as ‘The Boot.’ One of his boots is in the New Zealand Rugby Museum.

Also nicknamed ‘The Boot.’ Clarke was originally considered cumbersome and injury prone. But the burly fullback with the prodigious right boot was fit in time for the visit by the 1956 Springboks. With the series at 1-1, New Zealand demanded changes and Clarke debuted in the third test in Christchurch. His third-minute penalty immediately put the Boks on notice. He slotted three shots, New Zealand won 17-10 and the Evening Post newspaper wrote, “Clarke made as remarkably successful a debut as any full-back in history can ever have done.” Two more 40-meter plus penalties in the Eden Park decider helped New Zealand win a series from the Boks for the first time. Clarke played in South Africa's 75th jubilee matches in 1964 and moved there in 1977.

The 1970 series was to be decided in the fourth and final test at Ellis Park. South Africa led 2-1. They took first use of the wind and McCallum, as he was all series, was lethal as a place-kicker. The Boks reached halftime a massive 14-3 ahead moments after a 65-meter penalty by McCallum. He hadn't expected to nail it. Captain Dawie de Villiers told him to kick for goal only so the forwards could have a breather. McCallum's 14 points underpinned a 20-17 win that handed New Zealand its first series loss anywhere in 10 years. “The man who beat us was the fullback Ian McCallum,” New Zealand great Colin Meads said. “I take my hat off to him. I can understand now how the Springboks felt about Don Clarke in 1956."

The slightly built Hewson's porous defense made his All Black status constantly criticized. He was booed in his home test debut but three months later he was still the fullback when the controversial 1981 series with the visiting Springboks reached its climax in the ‘flour bomb test.’ Eden Park was surrounded by barbed wire and riot police, and another anti-apartheid protestor flying a Cessna was dropping flour bombs on the pitch. Hewson's frailties let the Springboks rally with three tries by Ray Mordt. The series looked like finishing in a draw with the score 22-22 at 80 minutes. But referee Clive Norling kept penalizing the Springboks. The decisive penalty came in the 89th and Hewson hit the goalkick that won the match and series. “It just had to go over,” he said.

New Zealand led 1-0 and went to Pretoria to clinch a first-ever series win in South Africa and avoid a third-test decider at Ellis Park. The All Blacks led 24-11 but the Boks fought back to trail 24-23. The All Blacks earned a 40-meter penalty. Goalkicker Simon Culhane had just left injured and his replacement, Jon Preston, insisted he'd take it with his first touch of the ball. He made it. A Joel Stransky penalty cut the deficit to one again in the 73rd. The All Blacks got another penalty in their own half in the 75th. Preston delivered again. Zinzan Brooke added a drop goal and the All Blacks secured history. “Thinking back, they were the biggest kicks of my career,” Preston said. The magnitude of the achievement hit home to the All Blacks when they reached the tunnel to the changing rooms and waiting with tears in his eyes was Don Clarke.

See AP’s full rugby coverage here