With the Boks kicking off their 2025 season against the Barbarians on June 20, Rugby365 runs a historical deep-dive through all nine previous meetings — a series that sits at 4-4-1 heading into Saturday. The piece traces the rivalry from its 1952 origins, when the BaaBaas pulled off one of the great tour upsets against a Springbok side on a 29-match winning streak, through to last year's 54-7 demolition in Cape Town. In between sit some genuinely fascinating moments: the 2007 fixture that handed Jake White a losing farewell after the World Cup triumph, a 2011 dead rubber that launched Elton Jantjies and ended in a draw, and that breathless five-tries-apiece stalemate in 2016. The historical context sharpens the stakes for Saturday — the Boks will be looking to build on 2024's momentum and make it back-to-back wins on home soil against the invitational side.
Springboks v Barbarians: Every clash before Saturday's Gqeberha opener
A fixture-by-fixture breakdown of all nine Springbok-Barbarians meetings ahead of Saturday's Gqeberha opener, with the series locked at 4-4-1 and the Boks aiming to back up their 54-7 Cape Town demolition from 2024.
- Springboks
- Jake White
- Rugby World Cup
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