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Springboks lead All Blacks 13-12 at half-time in Johannesburg
The Springboks lead the All Blacks 13-12 at half-time in Johannesburg, with Cheslin Kolbe contributing a try conversion and two penalty goals and Andre Esterhuizen crossing for the Boks' only try despite New Zealand scoring twice through Will Jordan and Josh Moorby.
Springboks host All Blacks in Rugby Championship opener at Ellis Park
South Africa host New Zealand at Ellis Park in the opening Test of a four-match Rugby Championship series, with the all-time head-to-head at 63-43 in favour of the All Blacks but the Boks holding a 10-6 advantage at the Johannesburg venue.
Vermeulen: Rassie has gone from physically intense to psychologically ruthless
Vermeulen gives a candid 20-year read on Erasmus's evolution — from physically disruptive training presence to surgical psychological operator — with De Villiers adding that nothing Rassie says or does is accidental.
Du Toit to captain Boks against All Blacks as Kolisi ruled out with hamstring injury
Pieter-Steph du Toit captains the Springboks against the All Blacks at Ellis Park on Saturday after Rassie Erasmus took a precautionary decision to rest Siya Kolisi, who is carrying a hamstring injury. It will be Du Toit's first Test as captain against New Zealand, with South Africa having won five of their last six meetings with the All Blacks.
Kolbe on broken ribs, All Black fans in the family, and why he's finally coming home
Kolbe opens up ahead of the All Blacks Test on the Francois Steyn hit that may have cracked his ribs, his favourite tries, the All Black fans still in his family circle, and why coming home to Cape Town was finally the right call.
Why the Bomb Squad's absence changes everything — and why Planet Rugby is calling an All Blacks upset at Ellis Park
Planet Rugby flips its prediction from a nine-point Bok win to an eight-point All Blacks upset, with Erasmus's shock 5-3 bench the decisive factor — stripping out the fourth-quarter front-row advantage that has defined Springbok series dominance for years.
Janse van Rensburg on captaincy, records and what's next against the Black Ferns
Janse van Rensburg reflects on captaining the Bok Women for the first time in Fiji, extending her national points record to 221, and what the Black Ferns clash at FNB Stadium means after the World Cup quarterfinal exit.
Roigard flags Williams and Reinach as genuine threats ahead of Ellis Park Test
Roigard previews the Ellis Park Test with a frank assessment of Williams and Reinach — their speed, ruck threat, and kicking platform — while revealing the All Blacks have a specific plan to neutralise the Bok box-kick. He believes adaptability on the night will be the deciding factor.
All Blacks lose Segner to inflammatory arthritis ahead of Ellis Park test
Anton Segner is out of Saturday's Springbok-All Blacks clash at Ellis Park with acute inflammatory arthritis, replaced on the bench by Simon Parker.
Five All Blacks who could shape the Ellis Park Test
Rugby365 profiles the five All Blacks most likely to shape Saturday's Ellis Park Test — Love, Jordie Barrett, Moorby, Roigard and De Groot — weighing their threats against specific Springbok match-ups and the unknowns each brings into the fixture.
De Villiers gets his All Blacks baptism — and the coaches back him to deliver
With Kolisi out again, De Villiers starts against the All Blacks at Ellis Park for just his fourth cap. Erasmus and Stick give an unusually candid read of the challenge ahead — and explain why they back him regardless.
Ellis Park opener: Everything on the line for the All Blacks, just the beginning for the Boks
Keohane argues the All Blacks need this first Test far more than the Boks do, frames the New Zealand 'stop-start' critique of South Africa as lazy, and predicts the 2024 Ellis Park narrative — All Blacks fast start, Bok bench the difference — will repeat on Saturday.
Rassie's RGR gamble: Winning game three, not game one
Erasmus has publicly framed the RGR Series as a depth and fitness contest rather than a game-by-game battle, deliberately holding back Kolisi, Mostert, and De Jager while pointing to a significant playing-minutes advantage over the All Blacks as the series edge he's banking on.
Springboks and All Blacks open four-Test series at Ellis Park
South Africa and New Zealand begin a month-long, four-match tour on Saturday at Ellis Park — the first traditional series between the sides in three decades. Rassie Erasmus has dismissed suggestions the Springboks deliberately slow games down, responding to All Blacks coach Scott Robertson's emphasis on tempo and speed. The world champions hold a recent edge in the rivalry, having won four of the last seven encounters.
Du Toit to captain Springboks as Kolisi sits out Ellis Park opener
Pieter-Steph du Toit will lead the Springboks against New Zealand at Ellis Park on Saturday after Siya Kolisi was ruled out with a hamstring injury. Rassie Erasmus confirmed the decision was precautionary, with the captain fit to train but not risked for the opening Test of the four-match Rugby's Greatest Rivalry series. Du Toit earns his first captaincy against the All Blacks as South Africa defend both their fortress and their world number one ranking.
Erasmus asks Ellis Park crowd to let the Haka breathe
Erasmus has shelved any Haka counter-strategy, crediting Tony Brown with shifting the squad's mindset — and he's urging the Ellis Park crowd to stay quiet through it so the moment lands. The piece captures a rare candid admission of nerves ahead of the RGR series opener.
Hansen: Springboks have outgrown the quota system
Hansen argues the Springboks have organically outgrown the quota system, with genuine on-field unity making transformation targets redundant — while also warning that South Africa's winning mentality makes them a formidable proposition for his former side at Ellis Park.
Built in a shed in the Free State: The doctrine behind the Springbok scrum
A forensic breakdown of how the Springbok scrum was built — tracing it from a single Erasmus question in a team room to the training culture, bonus structures and Daan Human's methods that made it the sport's most dominant set-piece weapon, with a pointed argument about what World Rugby's proposed law changes would actually mean.
André Pretorius: All Blacks Need Four Tries Minimum to Beat This Bok Defence
André Pretorius argues the All Blacks must score at least four tries to beat the Boks at Ellis Park, and that the most underused weapon against the Bok rush defence remains the chip kick — a strategy teams keep abandoning before it pays off.
Four Boks with points to prove against the All Blacks at Ellis Park
Louw builds the case for four Boks who face heightened scrutiny at Ellis Park — De Allende's 100th cap, the Louw-over-Du Toit selection call, Pieter-Steph's succession narrative, and the SFM-vs-Libbok flyhalf subplot.