In 2026 the traditional Rugby Championship will be on pause, but a nostalgic tour is set to light up the Southern Hemisphere. New Zealand’s All Blacks will embark on an eight‑match expedition across South Africa, capped by a four‑Test series against the Springboks, all broadcast live on Sky Sports. Marketed in both countries as the "Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Tour," the itinerary honours more than a century of contests between the two most decorated rugby nations.
The All Blacks have already opened the tour with emphatic victories over the Stormers (38‑21 in Cape Town), the Sharks (54‑0 in Durban) and the Bulls (50‑19 in Pretoria). The headline fixtures are the four Tests scheduled for August 22, August 29, September 5 and September 12, the final encounter taking place at Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium in the United States.
**A Brief History of the Rivalry** The first meeting between New Zealand and South Africa took place on 13 August 1921 at Carisbrook in Dunedin, when the All Blacks edged a 13‑5 win during the Springboks’ three‑Test tour. A week later the Boks answered back with a 9‑5 victory at Eden Park, and the series concluded with a 0‑0 draw in Wellington, leaving the inaugural contest level at 1‑1. Since that opening chapter, the two sides have clashed in roughly 110 Test matches. The All Blacks have emerged victorious 63 times, the Springboks 43 times, and four games have ended in a stalemate.
When the matches are broken down by venue, the balance shifts slightly. In South Africa, the hosts have won 28 of 54 Tests, New Zealand 25, with one draw.
On New Zealand soil, the All Blacks have prevailed in 34 of 48 Tests, the Springboks 11, and three matches have been drawn. World Cup encounters have added further drama. South Africa triumphed over New Zealand in the 1995 final on home soil and again in the 2023 final in France, and they also beat the All Blacks in the 1999 third‑place playoff. Conversely, New Zealand have bested the Springboks in the 2015 semi‑final, the 2003 quarter‑final and during the pool stage of the 2023 tournament.
**Early Tours and the Apartheid Era** After the 1921 series, the teams met again in 1927 when the All Blacks toured South Africa. That series finished level at 2‑2, with each side winning two matches. The Boks then enjoyed a period of dominance, winning the 1937 tour of New Zealand 2‑1 and sweeping a home series in 1949 4‑0. New Zealand reclaimed the initiative in 1956 with a 3‑1 home series win, only for South Africa to answer with a 2‑1 series victory on home ground in 1960.
From 1948 to 1994, South Africa’s apartheid policies cast a long shadow over sport. The regime barred mixed‑race competition, prompting New Zealand to exclude Māori players from several tours. Protests erupted during the 1960 tour, and by the mid‑1960s South Africa faced growing international isolation, culminating in exclusion from the Olympic Games and other global competitions.
Rugby proved one of the last sports to act decisively. In 1965 the Springboks toured New Zealand and lost three of four Tests. The following year, the New Zealand‑based Halt All Racist Tours (HART) movement was founded to oppose further contacts. The 1970 All Blacks tour of South Africa ended in a 3‑1 series loss for the Kiwis.
A 1973 tour to New Zealand was cancelled amid mounting pressure, yet the two nations still met in 1976 (South Africa winning 3‑1 at home) and again in 1981 (New Zealand winning 2‑1 in a tour marred by widespread protests, pitch invasions and even flour‑bomb attacks). A planned 1985 series was aborted after New Zealand courts ruled that a tour would be incompatible with the NZRFU’s stated purpose of fostering the game. The Springboks missed the first two Rugby World Cups (1987, 1991) and a 1986 British and Irish Lions tour was also called off. In 1986 a rebel side known as the New Zealand Cavaliers toured South Africa without official sanction.
Participants were subsequently banned from representing the All Blacks for several Tests, and some never returned to the national side. **Re‑integration and Modern Era** With apartheid dismantled, South Africa re‑entered the international arena in 1992, playing a Test against New Zealand at Ellis Park and narrowly losing 27‑24. Nelson Mandela’s election in 1994 ushered in a new era of national unity, and the Springboks hosted the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Despite being ranked ninth, South Africa stunned the world by defeating the favoured All Blacks 15‑12 in a final that has since been shrouded in controversy over alleged food‑poisoning of the New Zealand squad.
The following year, the All Blacks toured South Africa and, after winning the inaugural 1996 Tri‑Nations, secured a 2‑0 series victory on South African soil, clinching the series with a match to spare. From 2001 to July 2004 the All Blacks went unbeaten against the Boks, winning 13 of 17 encounters.
New Zealand’s dominance continued through the 2000s, with Tri‑Nations titles in 1997, 1999, 2002, 2003 and a four‑year streak from 2005‑2008, plus further crowns in 2010, 2011‑2013 and 2016‑2018. The All Blacks also captured World Cup trophies in 2011 and 2015, the latter squad often hailed as the greatest ever.
South Africa’s high point came in 2007 when they lifted the Webb Ellis Trophy after beating England in the final, but the Boks then endured a decade without major silverware. A low point arrived in September 2017 when the Springboks were thrashed 57‑0 by New Zealand in Albany and subsequently suffered heavy defeats to Ireland and Wales. The appointment of Rassie Erasmus as head coach sparked a dramatic turnaround. By September 2018 the Springboks secured a historic 36‑34 win in Wellington, their first victory on New Zealand soil since 2009.
A year later, South Africa claimed their third World Cup title, defeating England in Japan after eliminating the All Blacks in the pool stage. Since that triumph, the Springboks have held the upper hand in head‑to‑head encounters, winning seven of the last eleven Tests, capturing the Rugby Championship in 2024 and 2025, and edging New Zealand in the 2023 World Cup final – a match played under extraordinary circumstances after the All Blacks were reduced to 14 men. **The Road Ahead** The current Springbok squad appears deeper and more versatile than ever, while New Zealand is in a rebuilding phase under new head coach Dave Rennie after the dismissal of Scott Robertson.
Rennie has described the upcoming eight‑match, six‑week itinerary – including the four‑Test series – as "the toughest tour in rugby," emphasizing its potential to test the All Blacks against the sport’s benchmark team and to forge lasting connections. The schedule repeats several key fixtures: Stormers 21‑38 New Zealand (Cape Town, 7 Aug), Sharks 0‑54 New Zealand (Durban, 11 Aug), Bulls 19‑50 New Zealand (Pretoria, 15 Aug), followed by the four Tests (22 Aug, 29 Aug, 5 Sep, 12 Sep) across Johannesburg, Cape Town, FNB Stadium and Baltimore. Fans can follow every minute of the tour live on Sky Sports, with streaming available through NOW. This historic tour not only celebrates more than a hundred years of rivalry but also offers a fresh chapter in a narrative defined by triumph, politics, protest, and unforgettable moments on the field.
The All Blacks‑Springboks rivalry remains the sport’s most compelling saga, and the 2026 tour promises to add yet another unforgettable layer to its legacy.