The All Blacks vs Springboks: A Century‑Long Rugby Rivalry

In 2026 the traditional Rugby Championship will be on pause, but fans will still be treated to a nostalgic, high‑profile tour as New Zealand’s All Blacks head to South Africa for an eight‑match series that includes four full‑blown Test matches against the Springboks. Billed in both countries as the "Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Tour," the itinerary is designed to honour more than a hundred years of fierce competition between the two most decorated nations in the sport.

The tour has already seen the All Blacks dominate provincial sides: a 38‑21 victory over the Stormers in Cape Town on August 7, a crushing 54‑0 win against the Sharks in Durban on August 11, and a 50‑19 triumph over the Bulls in Pretoria on August 15. Those results set the stage for the Test series, scheduled for August 22, August 29, September 5 and September 12. The first Test will be contested at Ellis Park in Johannesburg, the second at Cape Town’s iconic stadium, the third at Johannesburg’s FNB Stadium, and the fourth will travel across the Atlantic to Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium in the United States.

The rivalry dates back to August 13, 1921, when the Springboks arrived in New Zealand for a three‑Test tour. The All Blacks clinched a 13‑5 win in Dunedin’s Carisbrook, but South Africa answered with a 9‑5 victory at Eden Park a week later, and the series was levelled by a 0‑0 draw in Wellington. Since that inaugural clash, the two sides have met in roughly 110 Test matches.

The All Blacks have edged ahead with 63 wins, the Springboks have taken 43, and four games have ended in a draw. Home‑and‑away statistics underline the balance of power.

In South Africa, 54 Tests have been played: the hosts have won 28, the visitors 25, with one draw. In New Zealand, 48 Tests have taken place, yielding 34 All Black victories, 11 Springbok wins and three draws. The rivalry has also been a fixture of Rugby World Cup history. South Africa denied New Zealand the trophy in two dramatic finals – 1995 and 2023 – and also bested them in a third‑place playoff in 1999.

Conversely, the All Blacks have eliminated the Springboks in the 2015 semi‑final, the 2003 quarter‑final and the 2023 pool stage. After the 1921 series, the teams met again in 1927 when New Zealand toured South Africa.

That encounter ended in a 2‑2 tie, with each nation winning two matches. The Boks then enjoyed a period of dominance, taking the 1937 series in 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, but South Africa responded with a 2‑1 series victory on home soil in 1960. The rivalry was profoundly affected by South Africa’s apartheid era (1948‑1994).

The policy of racial segregation meant that mixed‑race teams were prohibited, and New Zealand was pressured to exclude its Māori players from tours. This led to protests, most notably during the 1960 tour, and eventually to South Africa’s exclusion from many international sporting events, including the Olympics and the Davis Cup.

Rugby was slower to act, but by the late 1960s and early 1970s, anti‑tour movements such as Halt All Racist Tours (HART) began to challenge the status quo. The 1970 All Black tour of South Africa ended in a 3‑1 series loss for New Zealand, while a planned 1973 tour to New Zealand was cancelled amid growing global condemnation of apartheid. The 1981 Springbok tour of New Zealand became a flashpoint of civil unrest. Two matches were halted by protesters: in Hamilton, demonstrators ripped down a chain fence, scattered nails on the pitch and staged a sit‑in on the halfway line; in Timaru, authorities cancelled a game against South Canterbury fearing they could not control the crowds.

The final Test was even bombarded by an aircraft dropping flour bombs, flares and leaflets; All Black prop Gary Knight was temporarily stunned by a flour bomb. By 1985, a scheduled series was cancelled after a New Zealand court ruled that continuing the tour would be incompatible with the New Zealand Rugby Football Union’s purpose of fostering the game.

During apartheid, South Africa 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 called the New Zealand Cavaliers toured South Africa without official sanction; participants were later banned from representing the All Blacks. With the dismantling of apartheid, South Africa returned to 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 helped unite the nation behind the Springboks, who then toured New Zealand, losing two Tests and drawing one. Later that year South Africa hosted the 1995 Rugby World Cup, famously defeating the All Blacks 15‑12 in the final at Ellis Park.

The match has been shrouded in speculation about food‑borne illness that struck many All Black players before the game, a theory that has never been conclusively proven but remains part of the lore. The All Blacks sought revenge the following year, touring South Africa in August 1996. After winning the inaugural Tri‑Nations that year, they secured a 2‑0 series win in South Africa, clinching the third Test with a 33‑26 victory in Pretoria. From 2001 to July 2004, New Zealand went unbeaten in 13 of 17 encounters with the Boks, cementing its status as the dominant force.

The Springboks broke through in 2004 and again in 2009 to claim Tri‑Nations titles, but New Zealand’s consistency saw them win the competition four years in a row from 2005‑2008, again in 2010, and then three‑year streaks from 2011‑2013 and 2016‑2018. The All Blacks also captured World Cup crowns in 2011 and 2015, the latter side often hailed as the greatest team ever assembled. South Africa’s fortunes revived dramatically under coach Rassie Erasmus.

After a disastrous 2017 season – highlighted by a 57‑0 loss to New Zealand in Albany and heavy defeats to Ireland, Wales, England, Italy and Argentina – Erasmus reshaped the squad. By September 2018, the Springboks secured a historic 36‑34 win in Wellington, their first victory on New Zealand soil since 2009. The momentum culminated in a third World Cup triumph in Japan 2023, where they defeated England in the final after eliminating the All Blacks in the semi‑finals.

Since that 2023 triumph, the Springboks have held the upper hand in recent head‑to‑head encounters, winning seven of the last eleven Tests, capturing the Rugby Championship titles in 2024 and 2025, and clinching the 2023 World Cup. The current South African side boasts depth and a blend of seasoned veterans and emerging talent, while the All Blacks are in a rebuilding phase under head coach Dave Rennie after the dismissal of Scott Robertson. Rennie has described the upcoming four‑Test series as "the toughest tour in rugby," emphasizing the intensity of playing eight matches in six weeks and the unique opportunity to test themselves against the sport’s benchmark team. The schedule repeats the earlier provincial fixtures for emphasis: Stormers 21‑38 New Zealand (Cape Town, Aug 7), Sharks 0‑54 New Zealand (Durban, Aug 11), Bulls 19‑50 New Zealand (Pretoria, Aug 15), followed by the four Tests – first at Ellis Park (Aug 22), second in Cape Town (Aug 29), third at Johannesburg’s FNB Stadium (Sept 5), and the finale in Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium (Sept 12).

The tour will be broadcast live on Sky Sports, with streaming available via NOW, allowing supporters worldwide to follow every minute of this historic encounter. In sum, the All Blacks‑Springboks rivalry is more than a series of games; it is a narrative that weaves together sporting excellence, political struggle, cultural transformation and unforgettable moments on the field. The 2026 tour offers a fresh chapter in that story, promising high‑octane rugby, renewed national pride, and a chance for both sides to add new legends to an already rich tapestry of history.