Every story on the wire.
4,023 items
Lizo Gqoboka retires after decade-long Bulls career
Bulls loosehead Lizo Gqoboka has retired at 36, ending a career that spanned two Springbok caps and more than a decade at Loftus after rising from truck-loading and funeral parlour work in rural Mount Frere.
Can the Returning Boks Hit the Ground Running Against the All Blacks?
Etzebeth, Kolisi, and Van den Berg are all working their way back from injury ahead of the Greatest Rivalry series, and the piece interrogates whether they'll be sharp enough for Tests of this magnitude. The counterpoint is the Nations Championship form of De Villiers and Wiese, who made compelling cases for themselves in the absences — adding to a depth picture that looks increasingly healthy for the Boks.
Junior Boks flood in as Currie Cup enters its final quiet weekend before the RGR storm
Rich previews a Currie Cup weekend defined by Junior Bok debuts, mounting injury lists, and the looming shadow of the All Blacks tour — with Yaqeen Ahmed's omission read as a pointer to the Stormers' RGR selection.
Howlett's last-gasp try at Jade Stadium revisited ahead of Rugby's Greatest Rivalry series
SA Rugby Magazine revisits Doug Howlett's heartbreaking late try against the Springboks at Jade Stadium in 2004, timed to the build-up of the Rugby's Greatest Rivalry series.
Former All Blacks back Blackadder recall ahead of South Africa tour
Ex-New Zealand captain Kieran Read and former half-back Justin Marshall have endorsed Ethan Blackadder's recall to the All Blacks touring squad, citing the flanker's physicality and experience against the Springboks. The 31-year-old Crusaders back-rower last featured for New Zealand in a 31-27 defeat at Ellis Park two years ago.
Read and Marshall back Blackadder as All Blacks' Bok-busting weapon
Read and Marshall argue Blackadder's physicality and experience make him the All Blacks' most important weapon in the upcoming series against the Springboks.
The All Blacks tour is a throwback built by modern machinery — and it ends in Baltimore for a reason
A deep structural read on why the All Blacks' tour is both a genuine throwback to 20th-century touring rugby and a precisely engineered modern product — covering the 1996 historical weight, the logistical complexity Rennie is managing, the significance of the provincial fixtures, and the commercial logic that ends the series in Baltimore.
From the Paris Olympics to a first Test cap: Lamprecht's sevens detour pays off
Lamprecht arrives in Fiji as an uncapped but battle-hardened midfield option, crediting her two-season SVNS stint with making her a more complete player ahead of a potential Test debut on the Springbok Women's historic first tour to Fiji.
Injury-ravaged Narawa determined to seize All Blacks chance on South Africa tour
Emoni Narawa, capped just four times since his 2023 debut, has been recalled to the All Blacks' 44-man tour squad for South Africa despite a harrowing injury history that includes a punctured lung, broken ribs, a broken foot, a wrist injury and a World Cup withdrawal with a slipped disc.
Injury-ravaged Narawa determined to seize All Blacks chance on Springbok tour
Emoni Narawa, restricted to four Tests by a string of serious injuries including a punctured lung, broken ribs, a broken foot and a wrist injury, has been recalled to the All Blacks' 44-man squad for the Greatest Rivalry tour to South Africa and is pushing for the number 14 jersey.
Read and Marshall back Blackadder to ask questions of Bok defence — but flag a bigger All Black problem
Read and Marshall back Blackadder's recall as a physical counter to the Boks' direct forward game, while Read raises a broader concern: Rennie's All Blacks are leaning too heavily on Darry and not getting the ball to Savea in positions where he can actually hurt a defence like South Africa's.
Naas Botha wants biennial SA–NZ tours — not just a one-off revival
Naas Botha argues the All Blacks' first SA tour since 1996 should kick off a biennial rotation rather than a four-yearly one, making the case that full tours serve players and supporters beyond the Test elite in a way that standalone fixtures simply can't.
Five reasons the Springbok-All Black series is tighter than the rankings suggest
Planet Rugby maps five fault lines across the upcoming four-Test series — fly-half vulnerability, the Kolisi/de Villiers rotation question, Erasmus's seeding of Boks into provincial opposition, Scotland's attacking blueprint from Loftus, and whether altitude is a real factor or convenient excuse — arguing the ranking gap between the sides is far smaller than the July form suggests.
Tour game chaos, Yaqeen's probable debut, and what 'best available' actually means
Rich argues the All Blacks tour has exposed serious structural problems: URC clubs are fielding out-of-season sides with no meaningful share of the gate, while contractual 'best available' obligations collide across competitions. He proposes provincial/invitational alternatives and flags Yaqeen Ahmed as the likely Stormers No.10 against the All Blacks.
Erasmus wants a slow burn, not a flying start, against the All Blacks
Erasmus is framing the Greatest Rivalry series as a deliberate build rather than an out-of-the-blocks effort — he wants the Boks peaking for the crunch Tests, not game one, with World Cup planning running in the background throughout.
Tour game chaos, a Yaqeen debut and why the All Blacks visit is structurally broken
Rich argues the All Blacks tour structure is fundamentally broken for South African club sides still in pre-season, proposes provincial/invitational alternatives, unpacks the 'best available' contractual bind facing the Stormers and Bulls, and tips Yaqeen Ahmed to make his senior Stormers debut at flyhalf against New Zealand.
Parsons: Sacha is the right 10 if the Boks want to win big
James Parsons argues that Feinberg-Mngomezulu's attacking game makes him the right Bok 10 pick for the Rugby's Greatest Rivalry series — particularly if the Boks are targeting a big winning margin.
Parsons: Sacha is the right 10 if the Boks want to win big
James Parsons argues Feinberg-Mngomezulu's attacking game makes him the Bok 10 of choice for the Rugby's Greatest Rivalry tour — if the target is winning by a significant margin.
Read: All Blacks must match Bok bench impact — not copy their formula
Read argues the All Blacks don't need to copy Rassie's 6-2 split — but their bench must match Bok impact levels. Marshall flags Esterhuizen's hybrid role as a structural edge New Zealand can't currently replicate, with Fainga'anuku's injury removing their closest equivalent.
Lamprecht eyes Test debut against Fiji after Olympic sevens triumph
Shiniqwa Lamprecht is poised for her first Springbok Women's Test cap when South Africa face Fiji in Suva next Saturday. The 23-year-old midfield option helped defeat the same opponents 21-15 at the 2024 Paris Olympics, exactly two years ago.