All Blacks-Springboks 'Greatest Rivalry' Tour Begins
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- The All Blacks and Springboks begin a three-Test series on Saturday, August 22 at Ellis Park in Johannesburg, with a fourth non-official Test in Baltimore on September 12 — the first meeting between the sides on American soil.
- The 2023 Rugby Championship was cancelled to make room for the tour, which will recur every four years; New Zealand next host the Springboks in 2030.
- South Africa and New Zealand reportedly want to build a product financially rivaling British & Irish Lions tours — last year's Lions tour generated a $35m profit for Australia Rugby and wiped out £17.9m in debts.
- A Deloitte report on Super Rugby Pacific found the model "under strain economically, commercially, and in delivering on its high performance purpose," with all five New Zealand provinces cumulatively unprofitable over the past six years.
- New Zealand has won just four Tests in South Africa since 2016 and hasn't won an away series there since 1996; key players Will Jordan and Cam Roigard are yet to feature but expected fit for the first Test.
- Tour warm-up results: New Zealand beat the Stormers 38-21, the Sharks 54-0, and the Bulls 50-19 in one-sided August fixtures against South African franchise sides.
Why it matters: South Africa and New Zealand have won every World Cup since 2011 between them, making this the most direct 2027 World Cup dry run available. The financial case is real: the Lions tour benchmark ($35m profit, £17.9m of Australian debt cleared) shows what rivalries can deliver — and both unions need it, with Super Rugby Pacific losing money and South Africa already having departed for the URC in 2021.
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