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2,959 items · Springboks
Erasmus banks on freshness and experience edge as Boks target series win over All Blacks
Rassie Erasmus has outlined a series-long workload strategy ahead of Saturday's first Test against the All Blacks at Ellis Park, revealing the Boks have averaged 70 fewer playing minutes per player than New Zealand over the past six weeks, with the third Test in Soweto identified as the likely series decider. Damian de Allende reaches 100 caps on Saturday.
Rennie hits back at Boks over public airing of All Blacks discipline concerns
Dave Rennie has criticised the Springbok coaching staff for airing discipline concerns about the All Blacks in the media, while acknowledging his side's improvement in that area ahead of Saturday's first Test.
Rennie refuses to play mind games ahead of Ellis Park opener
Rennie won't manufacture pressure narratives ahead of Ellis Park — but his comments on the tour's broader purpose, and what a series win would mean for All Blacks World Cup prep, are worth noting for Bok supporters sizing up the opposition's intent.
Rennie keeps his powder dry — but does the All Blacks' tour strategy hold up against Bok experience?
Rennie's All Blacks selection leans almost entirely on the Ireland performance from July, with the three franchise warm-ups used to obscure rather than build combinations. The piece interrogates the battle-hardened narrative, maps the caps disparity across both 23s, and identifies where the real Test-eve questions sit for New Zealand.
Five selection calls that define the Boks' approach to the Greatest Rivalry opener
Planet Rugby's five-takeaway breakdown of the Bok team covers the SFM vs Libbok vs Pollard call, the Porthen-over-Du Toit tighthead decision, Kolisi's precautionary absence, Esterhuizen's hybrid role solving the bench split debate, and De Allende's 100th cap.
Ellis Park XI dissected: De Allende hits 100, Feinberg-Mngomezulu backed to bounce back, and Pollard left out entirely
Erasmus's team for the All Blacks opener features Feinberg-Mngomezulu at 10 with Pollard left out of the 23 altogether, a Nche-Louw scrum strategy, Du Toit stepping up as captain, and De Allende reaching 100 caps — while Hanekom, Thomas du Toit and de Jager are the unlucky omissions.
Erasmus holds Kolisi back for All Blacks series, eyes longer campaign
Erasmus confirms Kolisi was fit but has been held back for the longer All Blacks series, with De Villiers starting at flank. Mostert and De Jager are also out due to limited match minutes, while Erasmus remains sceptical that New Zealand will deliver the high-tempo game they have promised.
Graham Henry backs Erasmus's rotation strategy — and takes a quiet shot at those who once mocked his own
Henry praises Erasmus's rotation depth and Bomb Squad innovation ahead of the four-Test series, drawing a wry parallel to when his own All Blacks rotation policy faced the same criticism — and identifying the first post-Bomb Squad scrum as a likely turning point.
Rennie dismisses Erasmus media tactics ahead of Ellis Park test
Dave Rennie has pushed back on the Springboks' decision to publicise their disciplinary concerns in the media, saying he has no plans to reciprocate, while acknowledging the scale of the challenge awaiting his side at Ellis Park on Saturday.
Rassie's series plan: sacrifice game one, win the war
Erasmus is managing this RGR series as a four-test campaign, not a single-game crisis — deliberately holding back Kolisi, Mostert and De Jager, flagging heavy rotation for Cape Town, and backing fresher legs and superior depth to be decisive when the series reaches its business end.
Bomb Squad vs a thin All Blacks bench: where Saturday's Test could be won
Cardinelli argues the Boks' Bomb Squad is ideally placed to exploit a green All Blacks bench — if the starting XV can keep the first half competitive, the second-half forward mismatch could prove decisive. He also unpacks the halfback selections, the Esterhuizen wildcard, and why Rassie's squad rotation signals a long-game approach to the four-Test series.
Alexander: Midweek tour games don't work, SA Rugby must rethink format
SA Rugby president Mark Alexander says midweek provincial fixtures during the All Blacks' tour have not worked and must be reconsidered, while also calling for representative 'A' and Country XVs to replace franchise opponents on future tours.
Rennie's All Blacks get injury boost ahead of Ellis Park opener
Rennie gets his preferred squad for Ellis Park after Jordan, Roigard, and McKenzie all recover in time. The second-row selection — with Tuipulotu left out — was his toughest call. He wants to draw first blood but is keeping the bigger series picture in mind.
Du Toit to captain Springboks as De Allende reaches century
Pieter-Steph du Toit captains the Springboks in the first Rugby's Greatest Rivalry Test, with Damian de Allende earning his 100th cap.
Paulse, Aplon and Russell on why the Boks-All Blacks rivalry hits different
Paulse, Aplon and Russell revisit their All Blacks battles and explain why the greatest rivalry in rugby has the feel of a Hollywood blockbuster — worth a read ahead of the next Bok-NZ clash.
Fitzpatrick: Beating the Boks in South Africa in '96 tops everything — including the World Cup
Fitzpatrick rates the 1996 series win in South Africa above his World Cup triumph, calling it his greatest achievement — and his advice to the current All Blacks chasing the same feat against the Boks is blunt: be relentless, or pay for every mistake.
Wiese tops Planet Rugby's world eight rankings — with Hanekom cracking the top 10
Planet Rugby puts Wiese at the top of the global eight rankings, with Hanekom cracking the top 10 — the piece makes a strong structural argument for why Wiese is the foundation the entire Bok system is built on.
The breakdown battle that will decide the Boks-ABs opener happens before anyone reaches the ball
The piece argues the Boks-ABs breakdown battle is decided at the moment of tackle and post length — not at the jackal — and dismantles five widely held myths about how the contest actually works, with sharp analysis of both sides' structural approaches and what Carley's refereeing is likely to reward.
Kitshoff flags slow-start risk and scrum stakes for Boks at Ellis Park
Kitshoff backs the Boks but flags a slow-start risk from heavy rotation and limited combination time, while predicting an all-or-nothing scrum battle that could define the series opener at Ellis Park.
Erasmus flags All Black breakdown brutality as Boks brace for Ellis Park opener
Erasmus has publicly flagged the All Blacks' breakdown aggression and multi-phase attack as his biggest concerns ahead of Saturday's Test, while also taking a shot at World Rugby's new referee access rules.