Three tour games, three heavy wins for the All Blacks — but Saturday at Ellis Park is the first time this tour meets actual Springboks.
South Africa play New Zealand at Ellis Park, Johannesburg, on Saturday 22 August 2026, kick-off 5.10pm local time (4.10pm BST) — the first of four Tests that decide the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour. New Zealand arrive unbeaten, having won the three franchise games by a combined 142-40. It is also the first Test the two countries have played on a traditional tour of South Africa since 1996.
The tour so far: three games, 142 points
New Zealand’s warm-up leg is done. This is what it produced:
| Date | Result | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| Fri 7 Aug | Stormers 21-38 New Zealand | Cape Town Stadium |
| Tue 11 Aug | Sharks 0-54 New Zealand | Kings Park, Durban |
| Sat 15 Aug | Vodacom Bulls XV 19-50 New Zealand | Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria |
The Loftus game was the loudest statement. New Zealand scored eight tries: two each for Josh Moorby (Hurricanes) and Leroy Carter (Chiefs), a double for Codie Taylor — captaining the side from hooker — plus scores from Rieko Ioane (Blues) and Wallace Sititi (Chiefs). The Bulls’ reply came through Ruan Vermaak, Stravino Jacobs and Marcell Coetzee, and a 19-point return made them comfortably the most competitive of the three hosts after the Sharks were blanked 54-0 in Durban.
Why 142-40 tells you less than it looks
Every side New Zealand have beaten so far was a franchise team playing in the middle of a domestic season — not South Africa. The clearest illustration is the Bulls: the same organisation that lost 50-19 on Saturday evening had its Currie Cup side listed for a fixture against the Toyota Cheetahs the following afternoon. These clubs were never going to park their seasons to peak for a tour game.
The actual Springboks spent that fortnight elsewhere, winning 17-10 away to Argentina on 8 August — a 23rd win in 26 matches since Rassie Erasmus returned to the head coach role. And the one genuinely close game New Zealand have played in 2026 came against Test opposition, not a franchise: a 34-32 escape at home to France on 4 July, in Dave Rennie’s first match in charge.
So the tour leg has told us plenty about New Zealand’s depth — a hooker scoring doubles, wings queueing up for tries, 263 points scored across six matches this year — and almost nothing about how they handle a Springbok pack at altitude with a series on the line. That question opens on Saturday.
Erasmus vs Rennie: the coaching duel
The records our database holds for the two coaches make the point neatly. Erasmus, back in charge since January 2024 and contracted through to the 2031 Rugby World Cup, has won 23 of 26 with a points difference of +614. Rennie has a perfect six from six since taking over in March 2026 — July wins over France, Italy and Ireland, then the three tour games — with Ardie Savea installed as his captain.
They have never coached against each other at Test level. When Rennie’s Wallabies were meeting South Africa in 2020-22, Erasmus was upstairs as director of rugby; by the time he took the whistle-side job back, Rennie was in Japan with Kobe. Saturday is the first direct meeting — the 2019 and 2023 World Cup-winning organiser against the coach New Zealand hired to steady the ship after Scott Robertson’s departure in January.
A rivalry built on tours — and starved of them for 30 years
South Africa and New Zealand have played more than a hundred Tests since they first met in 1921, and for most of the twentieth century the fixture existed in exactly this form: a visiting side spending weeks in the host country, playing the provinces between Tests. The professional era killed that. From 1996 the meetings were folded into the annual Tri Nations and its successor, the Rugby Championship — two Tests a year, fly in, fly out.
That is what makes this tour genuinely historic rather than marketing-historic. The 1996 trip — the one New Zealand famously won — was the last of its kind, and the Rugby Championship’s move to a biennial cycle is what finally reopened the window. Codie Taylor put it simply after the Loftus win: “That’s what test match footy is all about. It’s an exciting week ahead.”
Erasmus, for his part, said his players are well recovered and ready to give everything for the Test series. He has had the luxury of preparing them away from the noise while the franchises absorbed the punishment.
Springboks vs All Blacks: the four Tests
The series runs on four consecutive Saturdays, with one midweek game left against the Lions:
| Date | Match | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| Sat 22 Aug | First Test | Ellis Park, Johannesburg |
| Tue 25 Aug | Lions v New Zealand | Ellis Park, Johannesburg |
| Sat 29 Aug | Second Test | Cape Town Stadium |
| Sat 5 Sep | Third Test | FNB Stadium, Johannesburg |
| Sat 12 Sep | Fourth Test | M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore |
The Baltimore finale is the first time these two have met in the United States, and it kicks off at 11pm South African time. Kick-off times and results for every match are on our full tour schedule page, and the first Test match page will carry live scores and updates on the day.
More than a hundred Tests since 1921 sit behind this fixture, and both unions are treating the revival of the touring format as a landmark — New Zealand Rugby’s tour page frames it as a new chapter thirty years on from the 1996 tour, and SA Rugby has built its season around it. On the evidence of the last fortnight, the hosts will need the real thing to show up from the first scrum.
Quick answers
What time does the Springboks vs All Blacks first Test kick off?
5.10pm South African time (4.10pm BST) on Saturday 22 August 2026, at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.
Where is the fourth Test being played?
At M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on Saturday 12 September — the first South Africa v New Zealand Test staged in the United States. Kick-off is 11pm South African time.
Is this series part of the Rugby Championship?
No. The Rugby Championship has moved to a biennial cycle and is not played in 2026. The tour is a standalone four-Test series — the first full All Blacks tour of South Africa since 1996.
