Rugby’s greatest rivalry is the most honest description of what the Springboks and All Blacks have represented for more than a century: two nations whose rugby identities were forged in opposition to each other, and whose dominance has shaped the sport’s global story.
The two nations have played each other in two Rugby World Cup finals, in 1995 in South Africa and in 2023 in France. The Boks have won both.
The two nations have won seven of 10 World Cup titles, the Boks leading with four wins and the All Blacks with three.
The rivalry extends 100 Tests and, in the amateur era, several magnificent rugby tours to South Africa and to New Zealand.
The 1937 Boks are the only South African team to win a series in New Zealand, and Sean Fitzpatrick’s 1996 All Blacks were the history-makers in winning a Test series for the first time in South Africa.
Men in black
In a professional age dominated by one-off Tests or two back-to-back Tests, this is the first time since the All Blacks toured South Africa in 1996, that the men in black will play South Africa’s United Rugby Championship teams — all four of them.
The tour will start in Cape Town against the Stormers and the second of three Tests will be in Cape Town, the tourist mecca of South Africa and one of the leading tourism cities on the planet.
This week it was also confirmed the Springboks Women’s Team would play their New Zealand equivalent, the Black Ferns, in an historic first-ever official Test in South Africa. The Test will be played as a curtain-raiser to the Boks and All Blacks third and final Test at the FNB Stadium in Soweto.
More than 90,000 are expected at the stadium, while a 4th Test, on neutral territory, could be played in the US, as both nations look for matches in the country ahead of the inaugural US Rugby World Cup in 2031.
SA Rugby CEO Rian Oberholzer called it “a testament” to the rise of the women’s Test team, who played in their first World Cup quarterfinal this year against the Black Ferns.
Women’s rugby surging
It is a watershed moment for South African rugby, another statement of how the women’s game is surging in this country and the potential to make it the Test match played in front of the biggest ground crowd in the history of women’s rugby.
The Springboks, in 2030, will tour New Zealand for three Tests, five matches against the Super Rugby clubs, and the potential of a Test in the US.
They may also play the Maori All Blacks, who have been invited to South Africa in 2026, although nothing has officially been confirmed.
Springboks captain Siya Kolisi, in promoting the visit of the All Blacks, said: “These are the tours we only ever heard about … the ones in folklore…"
He is right, 30 years is a long time between drinks.
The schedule is brutal and brilliant.
The All Blacks arrive in Cape Town on August 7 to face the Stormers, then head to Durban to meet the Sharks, and then Loftus for the Bulls.
Ellis Park hosts the first Test on August 22, Cape Town Stadium the second on August 29, and FNB Stadium the third on September 5 —followed by a final Test on September 12 at a venue yet to be announced.
The local Lions complete the tour schedule post the second Test at Ellis Park and the tour reaches its climax at the FNB Stadium, when the men and women of both nations will redefine the rivalry because not only will it be bigger, but it will be broader.
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