FRIDAY FEATURE: All Blacks’ South Africa tour – Is rugby union entering a new era?

One point separated South Africa and New Zealand in the 2023 Rugby World Cup final.

Three years later, rugby union’s two most famous southern hemisphere nations are preparing to renew a rivalry that could help reshape the international game.

The All Blacks are in South Africa for an old-fashioned multi-week tour featuring provincial matches and, more importantly, a three-Test series against the Springboks. A fourth Test will follow in Baltimore in September.

It has been marketed as the “Greatest Rivalry” tour, but there is much more at stake than bragging rights between two of rugby’s traditional superpowers.

The Rugby Championship has been cancelled for 2026 to make room for the series, while Australia and Argentina have been left to arrange their own fixtures.

If the tour proves a sporting and commercial success, it could provide a blueprint for a different future for international rugby.

Rugby’s biggest modern rivalry

South Africa and New Zealand have long occupied a special place in rugby union.

The Springboks are the dominant force of the current era. Their dramatic 12-11 victory over New Zealand in the 2023 World Cup final in Paris secured a second successive world title and a record fourth overall.

South Africa have since remained at the top of the international game, adding back-to-back Rugby Championship titles and entering this series as the world’s number one side.

Before the Springboks took control, New Zealand were the benchmark.

The All Blacks won consecutive World Cups in 2011 and 2015 and spent much of the professional era as the team everyone else was trying to catch.

The balance of power has shifted, but the appeal of the rivalry has not.

Now rugby administrators are hoping to turn that appeal into something even bigger.

Why is the tour happening?

Money is inevitably part of the answer.

The series is intended to become a regular event, taking place every four years. South Africa are hosting the inaugural edition before New Zealand welcome the Springboks in 2030.

The ambition is clear: create a touring product capable of generating the kind of interest and revenue traditionally associated with a British and Irish Lions tour.

There is good reason for rugby administrators to explore new ideas.

The sport continues to face significant financial pressures, particularly in the southern hemisphere.

Super Rugby Pacific has struggled commercially. A Deloitte report obtained by New Zealand publication Stuff found the competition was “under strain economically, commercially, and in delivering on its high performance purpose”.

New Zealand’s five Super Rugby franchises have collectively struggled to make money, while some of the country’s best players have been tempted by lucrative contracts in Japan and Europe.

That creates a particular problem for New Zealand Rugby because of its longstanding policy of selecting All Blacks players from the domestic game.

Richie Mo’unga, Jordie Barrett and Rieko Ioane, all starters in the 2023 World Cup final, are among the high-profile New Zealand players to have spent time playing overseas.

South Africa took a different route.

Its leading franchises left Super Rugby and joined Europe-based competitions, with the Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers now playing in the United Rugby Championship.

International rugby therefore offers New Zealand and South Africa an opportunity to create something commercially valuable together even though their domestic teams no longer share the same competition.

Can the All Blacks actually beat South Africa?

New Zealand arrived in South Africa in encouraging form under new head coach Dave Rennie.

Rennie replaced Scott Robertson earlier this year and victories over France, Italy and Ireland offered a positive start to his reign.

South Africa, however, represent a completely different challenge.

The All Blacks have won only four Tests in South Africa since 2016, while their last series victory on South African soil came all the way back in 1996.

Their performances in the warm-up matches have at least provided some momentum.

New Zealand opened the tour with a 38-21 victory over the Stormers before demolishing the Sharks 54-0. They followed that with another emphatic performance, beating the Bulls 50-19.

Those results need to be treated cautiously given the weakened opposition, but the All Blacks could hardly have prepared more convincingly.

They should also be strengthened by the expected return of Will Jordan and Cam Roigard for the opening Test.

South Africa remain favourites.

Rassie Erasmus possesses extraordinary depth and has continually demonstrated his ability to adapt his tactics and squad selection to different opponents.

The Springboks have also retained the winning habit that carried them to the 2023 World Cup.

For Rennie, this series should provide a much clearer indication of where his new-look All Blacks really stand.

A throwback that could become rugby’s future

There is something wonderfully old-fashioned about the tour.

Before the international calendar became increasingly congested, major rugby nations would regularly embark on lengthy tours involving Tests and matches against provincial or regional opposition.

Professional rugby gradually squeezed many of those tours out.

The All Blacks’ trip to South Africa represents a partial return to that tradition, but with a distinctly modern commercial strategy behind it.

That combination could prove important.

International rugby has spent years discussing the need for a coherent global calendar without ever completely solving the problem.

The introduction of the Nations Championship was supposed to provide greater structure, but clashes between northern and southern hemisphere seasons remain.

France’s decision to take a weakened squad to New Zealand earlier this summer demonstrated the difficulty of creating genuinely meaningful international windows after exhausting domestic campaigns.

The South Africa-New Zealand model offers another possibility.

Rather than simply filling the calendar with more standalone Tests, rugby could package its biggest rivalries into identifiable events.

A three-Test series gives supporters a narrative to follow. Provincial matches add history and local interest. Touring supporters generate revenue for host cities, while broadcasters and sponsors have a clearly marketable product.

It is hardly a revolutionary idea.

In many ways, rugby is rediscovering something it used to do extremely well.

But what about Australia and Argentina?

There is an obvious downside.

The 2026 Rugby Championship has effectively been sacrificed to accommodate the tour.

Australia and Argentina will play each other instead, but both will understandably be concerned if regular fixtures against New Zealand and South Africa become less important than the commercial potential of the “Greatest Rivalry”.

That could ultimately determine whether this remains a special event every four years or becomes the beginning of a more fundamental change.

If New Zealand and South Africa generate significantly more money from touring each other than they do from the traditional Rugby Championship structure, administrators will inevitably take notice.

Rugby cannot afford to ignore commercial realities.

But it must also be careful that chasing the most lucrative fixtures does not make the international game narrower.

Why Baltimore matters

Perhaps the most intriguing fixture of the entire tour comes after the South African series has finished.

On 12 September, the Springboks and All Blacks will meet at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

It will be the first Test between the two nations played on American soil.

That is significant.

The United States will host the men’s Rugby World Cup in 2031, and World Rugby has made no secret of its desire to expand the sport in the American market.

Taking arguably international rugby’s most recognisable rivalry to the US provides another test of its commercial potential.

If American sports fans can be attracted to a meaningful All Blacks-Springboks Test, rugby may have found a powerful vehicle for building interest ahead of 2031.

More than just another Test series

The next few weeks will tell us plenty about New Zealand under Rennie and whether they are capable of challenging the Springboks for rugby’s top spot.

But the importance of this tour stretches beyond what happens on the pitch.

Rugby union is searching for ways to make its international game more valuable, more accessible and easier for casual supporters to follow.

The answer might not be another new tournament.

It could instead be a return to one of rugby’s oldest traditions.

Meaningful tours. Proper Test series. Historic rivalries.

If the All Blacks’ South African adventure succeeds, the “Greatest Rivalry” might become more than a marketing slogan.

It could represent the beginning of a new chapter for international rugby union.

All Blacks Tour of South Africa: Results and Fixtures

7 August
Stormers 21-38 New Zealand

11 August
Sharks 0-54 New Zealand

15 August
Bulls 19-50 New Zealand

22 August
South Africa v New Zealand – Ellis Park, Johannesburg

25 August
Lions v All Blacks – Ellis Park, Johannesburg

29 August
South Africa v New Zealand – DHL Stadium, Cape Town

5 September
South Africa v New Zealand – FNB Stadium, Johannesburg

12 September
South Africa v New Zealand – M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore