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Springbok boss Rassie Erasmus has shown his hand by naming a group of 43 players for next month’s Greatest Rivalry Tour series against the All Blacks in South Africa and now we await the announcement of the New Zealand squad on Monday.

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New coach Dave Rennie, who took over from Scott Robertson at the beginning of the year, will name a 44 player group on Monday for the tour of South Africa.

The All Blacks will face the world champion Boks in three Tests in the country, with the fourth Test to be played in Baltimore, USA. The visitors will also face off against the four South African United Rugby Championship sides, the Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers.

The All Blacks will go on tour after making an unbeaten start to the inaugural Nations Championship. Rennie’s side opened their campaign with a 34-32 victory over France in Christchurch, before defeating Italy 47-17 in Wellington and Ireland 40-21 at Eden Park.

The Springboks also completed an unbeaten opening block of Nations Championship matches, recording victories over England, Scotland and Wales on home soil.

Rennie’s selection is expected to include veteran flyhalf Beauden Barrett and wing/centre Rieko Ioane, while Southland back row forward Semisi Tupou Ta’eiloa is set to be the surprise pick in the tour group. He played for Moana Pasifika in Super Rugby before that team’s collapse.

Ardie Savea will captain the All Blacks on their tour.

The tourists are expected to arrive in South Africa next week, with their first match against the Stormers in Cape Town on 7 August.

News from the SA franchises is that they will not likely field their strongest teams, as they are in URC pre-season. This last week, Erasmus released Ntuthuko Mchunu (prop), Evan Roos (No 8), Andre-Hugo Venter (hooker), Embrose Papier (scrumhalf), and Jaco Williams (wing) from the squad that did duty in the Nations Championship to their provinces to prepare for the All Blacks matches.

Erasmus’ Boks will play one more game before taking on their fiercest rivals. They’ll face Argentina in Buenos Aires on 8 August.

Tour fixtures in 2026

Friday 7 August: Stormers v New Zealand at Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town
Tuesday 11 August: Sharks v New Zealand at Kings Park, Durban
Saturday 15 August: Bulls v New Zealand at Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Saturday 22 August: First Test – South Africa v New Zealand at Ellis Park, Johannesburg
Tuesday 25 August: Lions v New Zealand at Ellis Park, Johannesburg
Saturday 29 August: Second Test – South Africa v New Zealand at Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town
Saturday 5 September: Third Test – South Africa v New Zealand at FNB Stadium, Johannesburg
Saturday 12 September: Fourth Test – South Africa v New Zealand (Baltimore, USA)

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