All Blacks against Springboks is rugby's oldest heavyweight rivalry: 110 Test matches since 1921, two Rugby World Cup finals decided by a single point, and a history tangled up with one of the twentieth century's defining political struggles. This weekend, the two sides meet again as the newly christened "Rugby's Greatest Rivalry Tour" gets under way in Johannesburg.
Where It Started
The first meeting came on 13 August 1921, at Carisbrook in Dunedin, when the All Blacks beat a touring Springboks side 13-5. It set the tone for everything that followed: South Africa hit back a week later at Eden Park, and the series was settled by a 0-0 draw in Wellington, as Sky Sports records in its history of the rivalry. The return series in South Africa in 1928 finished level again, 2-2. From the very first tour, this was a rivalry that refused to be easily separated.
A Century of Almost Even
That pattern has held for over a hundred years. Going into this weekend's opening Test, the All Blacks and Springboks have met 110 times, with New Zealand holding a narrow edge (63 wins to 43, with 4 draws) a winning record of just 57 percent, according to official figures published by the All Blacks. The Springboks won the first-ever series on New Zealand soil in 1937 and later inflicted a 4-0 whitewash on the All Blacks in South Africa in 1949; New Zealand didn't record its first series win over the Springboks at home until 1956, and had to wait until 1996 to win a series in South Africa, as The Rugby Paper notes in its account of the rivalry. This weekend's fixture will be the 111th Test between the two nations.
When Rugby Collided With History
For a long stretch of the twentieth century, this fixture couldn't be separated from politics. In 1976, the All Blacks toured apartheid-era South Africa despite an international sporting boycott of the country, prompting 28 African nations to withdraw from that year's Montreal Olympics in protest, as recorded by the International Olympic Committee's own history of the Games. Five years later, South Africa's return tour of New Zealand in 1981 divided the country so deeply that police baton-charged protesters on Wellington's Molesworth Street and a light aircraft dropped flour bombs onto Eden Park during the deciding Test, a period of unrest documented in detail by New Zealand's official history archive. South Africa remained excluded from international rugby until 1992, two years after Nelson Mandela's release from prison.
Two Finals, Two Defining Days
The two nations have since met in two Rugby World Cup finals; and New Zealand has never won either of them. In 1995, hosts South Africa beat the All Blacks 15-12 after extra time at Ellis Park, with Nelson Mandela presenting the trophy to captain Francois Pienaar while wearing a Springbok jersey himself, a moment widely credited with helping unite a newly democratic nation. Twenty-eight years later, the story repeated itself: South Africa edged New Zealand 12-11 at the Stade de France in the 2023 final, becoming the first side to win four Rugby World Cups. To date, New Zealand's only two Rugby World Cup final defeats have both come against South Africa.
The Rivalry Renewed, This Weekend
That history resumes on Saturday, 22 August, when the Springboks host the All Blacks at Ellis Park in the first Test of the newly branded Rugby's Greatest Rivalry Tour; New Zealand's first full tour of South Africa in thirty years, replacing this year's Rugby Championship entirely. Three further Tests follow at Cape Town, Johannesburg's FNB Stadium, and (for the first time ever) Baltimore in the United States, taking the rivalry to a fourth continent for the first time in its history.
Why We Made Black & White, Green & Gold
We built our black tee with white embroidery and our green tee with gold embroidery as a tribute to the two most storied colour combinations in world rugby, worn by the two nations that have arguably done more than any others to define what Test rugby means. It isn't a replica of either jersey; it's a piece of Rugby Culture kit for people who understand exactly what's at stake every time these two sides meet, whichever side of the rivalry you're on. With the series kicking off this weekend, there's no better time to pick your colours.
