Springboks v All Blacks: By the numbers

THE RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP 2025 – SATURDAY

NEW ZEALAND v SOUTH AFRICA – EDEN PARK, AUCKLAND – KO 7.05pm (9.05am SAST)

Referee

Karl Dickson (England)

Test debut: 17 November, 2018 – Georgia 27-19 Samoa

Tests as referee: 25 (including one as replacement referee)

• Karl Dickson will take charge of this fixture for the first time, having only been an assistant referee on two occasions – a 23-13 win for New Zealand at Rugby World Cup 2019 and the 12-11 victory for South Africa in the RWC 2023.

• The English official has refereed New Zealand in four Tests with the All Blacks yet to taste defeat after beating Italy, Ireland and Australia twice.

• New Zealand’s most recent victory was 31-28 in last year’s Rugby Championship.

• South Africa have a W2, L1 record with Dickson in the middle, a 25-24 loss to Ireland in July 2022 sandwiched between wins over Argentina and Wales.

• This will be Dickson’s fourth Test of the year, having also overseen Italy’s losses to Scotland (31-19) and France (73-24 in the Guinness Men’s Six Nations and Fiji’s 32-10 win over Tonga in the Asahi Super Dry Pacific Nations Cup 2025 last weekend.

• He also refereed the Japan XV v Maori All Blacks match in Tokyo on 28 June.

Head-to-head

Played: 108 – New Zealand leads 62-42, with four draws

Points for: New Zealand 2 235/South Africa 1 790 (Avg. score: 21-16)

Highest score: New Zealand 57 (57-15 on 8 October, 2016 and 57-0 on 16 September, 2017)/South Africa 46 (46-40 on 19 August, 2000)

Biggest winning margin: New Zealand 57 (57-0 on 16 September, 2017)/South Africa 28 (35-7 on 25 August, 2023)

First met: 13 August, 1921 – New Zealand 13-5 South Africa – Carisbrook, Dunedin

Last met: 7 September, 2024 - South Africa 18-12 New Zealand – DHL Stadium, Cape Town

Head -to-head notes

• New Zealand and South Africa meet at Eden Park for the first time since the All Blacks won 29-15 in 2013.

• South Africa have only won twice at the iconic Auckland venue, both times pre-dating World War Two.

• Overall, the Springboks have a P10, W2, D1, L7 record there.

• The draw came in 1994 and South Africa are one of only two teams to avoid defeat to New Zealand in their last 50 Tests at Eden Park, dating back to a loss to France that year.

• South Africa are on a four-match winning run against New Zealand, dating back to a 35-20 victory for the All Blacks at the Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland in July 2013.

• South Africa’s longest winning streak is six matches, between 1937 and 1949.

• The most recent win was in last year’s Rugby Championship, after the Springboks fought back from 9-3 down at half-time to win 18-12.

• This result secured the Freedom Cup for South Africa.

• It was the second time in the last three matches that 30 points or fewer had been scored (also South Africa’s 12-11 win in the Rugby World Cup 2023 final).

• South Africa’s tries were scored by Siya Kolisi and Malcolm Marx, with Handre Pollard kicking a penalty and a conversion and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu slotting a penalty.

• All of New Zealand’s points came from Damian McKenzie’s four penalties.

• It was the first time in 51 matches that South Africa had prevented the All Blacks from scoring a try, since the Cape Town meeting in 2001, when Tony Brown – now a member of the Springboks coaching team – kicked four penalties in a 12-3 victory for the visitors.

• Both sides lost two players apiece to the sin-bin – Jasper Wiese and Willie le Roux for South Africa and Sevu Reece and Tyrel Lomax for New Zealand.

Team notes

• New Zealand’s 29-23 defeat to Argentina in round two of The Rugby Championship ended their unbeaten record (W4) in 2025.

• The All Blacks kicked off the year with a 3-0 series whitewash against France before beginning The Rugby Championship with a 41-24 win against Los Pumas in Salta.

• The All Blacks created history in Dunedin in the opening encounter against France, becoming the first team to win 500 Tests with their 31-27 victory over Les Bleus. They reached the milestone in 652 matches.

• Despite the defeat to Los Pumas, the All Blacks are top of The Rugby Championship 2025 standings, having picked up bonus points in each of their games to date.

• New Zealand had led 13-6 after 26 minutes of match that saw hooker Codie Taylor reach a century of Test caps, thanks to tries from Billy Proctor and Fletcher Newell. The sides, though, would go in level at half-time.

• The All Blacks found themselves trailing 23-13 at the hour mark after Argentina’s second try and while they cut the deficit with Samisoni Taukei’aho’s converted try with 10 minutes to go the two sides could only trade penalties in the remaining time.

• A week earlier in Cordoba, New Zealand had run out 41-24 winners thanks to braces from winger Reece and hooker Taukei’aho, with Cortez Ratima and Ardie Savea also dotting down.

• The All Blacks are the competition’s top points scorers (64) and joint top try scorers (nine, with Australia).

• Super-sub Taukei'aho is the tournament’s top try-scorer with three.

• New Zealand have had five players sent to the sin-bin – the rest of the teams have only received two yellow cards between them.

• Proctor and Anton Lienert-Brown picked up yellows in round one and Will Jordan, Tupou Vaa'i and Reece were dispatched to the sin-bin in round two.

• New Zealand have the most efficient line-out (89.7%) but the worst scrum (88%).

• Runners-up in 2024, New Zealand are hoping to go one better than last year and win The Rugby Championship for the 10th time (when all four teams have been involved).

• New Zealand have won a hat-trick of Rugby Championship titles on three occasions (2012-14, 2016-18 and 2021-23) since the competition expanded from the Tri-Nations in 2012. No other team has gone ‘back-to-back’, let alone won three on the bounce.

• New Zealand finished second in 2024 despite only winning half of their games, their tally of four bonus points keeping them ahead of Argentina in the standings.

• It is the first time the All Blacks have lost three matches in a single campaign since Argentina joined the competition in 2012.

• The All Blacks also set an unwanted team record for the most points ever conceded in a single Rugby Championship (138).

• More than a third of them (36%) were conceded in the final quarter (50), a period when New Zealand struggled to score themselves.

• The All Blacks looked set to go a whole Rugby Championship without scoring beyond the hour mark until Caleb Clarke pounced for the second of his tries in the 65th minute of the final match.

• That try and Beauden Barrett’s conversion were the only points that New Zealand managed to score in the final quarter of the match (4% of their overall total of 175).

• Statistically, New Zealand had the best line-out (89%) and the joint-best scrum (97%) in the competition.

• New Zealand conceded the most penalties (71) and had the joint-most yellow cards (7), having not had a single player sent to the sin-bin in the first three matches of the year (v England, twice, and Fiji).

• The All Blacks averaged 2.7 points for each of their visits into the red zone, boosted by scoring six tries from their 10 entries in the second Test.

• New Zealand only conceded three penalties in the first Test and completed the series with an average of just 6.33 per game.

• South Africa are third in The Rugby Championship standings on four points, with points difference keeping them off the bottom.

• The Springboks are the lowest scorers in the tournament with 52 points from their first two games – the 38-22 loss to Australia at Airline Emirates Park and the 30-22 win in the return match in Cape Town.

• The Johannesburg defeat was their first on the opening weekend of The Rugby Championship in 10 years.

• It was the first time they’d been beaten since they lost 29-28 to Argentina in the penultimate round of the 2024 Rugby Championship, ending a seven-Test winning run.

• South Africa led 22-0 after 20 minutes of their Rugby Championship opener, a match in which Le Roux became South Africa’s latest Test centurion, after tries from Kurt-Lee Arendse, Andre Esterhuizen and Kolisi.

• However, they conceded 38 unanswered points to lose to Australia, a margin of defeat that saw the Springboks also slip from No 1 in the World Rugby Men’s Rankings.

• A week later a much-changed team bounced back with tries from Canan Moodie, Kwagga Smith and Eben Etzebeth, together with 15 points from the boot of Pollard, to secure a 30-22 win.

• South Africa are one of two teams with a 100% success rate on their feed at the scrum (also Australia).

• They are ranked top for clean breaks (18), offloads (20) and metres made (932).

• South Africa’s tackle success rate is just 80.7%, the lowest in the competition.

• South Africa are the reigning champions of both Rugby World Cup and The Rugby Championship but are no longer the No 1 ranked team in the world.

• The Springboks were replaced at the top of the World Rugby Men’s Rankings by New Zealand after the first weekend.

• South Africa ended their five-year wait for The Rugby Championship title when they won the 2024 edition.

• It was their second title since Argentina joined the competition to form The Rugby Championship, having previously lifted the trophy in 2019.

• The Springboks picked up 24 competition points – eight more than runners-up New Zealand – from five wins and one defeat.

• They secured the title when they beat Argentina 48-7 in Nelspruit in September, having lost to Los Pumas 29-28 in the penultimate round – one of only two defeats that they suffered in 2024.

• The defeat to Argentina ended their record-equalling winning run of five matches in The Rugby Championship and also saw them lose their No 1 ranking to Ireland, which they reclaimed in November.

• South Africa’s tally of seven yellow cards was the joint highest in the competition, along with New Zealand and included three in one match – the first time this has happened to the Springboks in Test rugby.

• South Africa won 15 scrum penalties in the 2024 Rugby Championship, which was only four fewer than the rest of the teams combined.

• South Africa only conceded one scrum penalty in the entire competition.

• The Springboks had the worst goal-kicking success rate, having slotted 28 of their 41 attempts (68%).

• South Africa attempted the most drop goals (four of the five in the competition) but without any success.

• The Springboks averaged the most kicks in play (28).

• South Africa completed their first clean sweep in the November internationals in 11 years in the 2024 Autumn Nations Series.

• South Africa beat Scotland 32-15, England 29-20 and Wales 45-12.

• They kicked off this year’s schedule with a 54-7 win over the Barbarians before beating Italy twice (42-24 and 45-0) and Georgia 55-10.

• Wiese was sent off in the 20th minute of the 45-0 win. He was subsequently suspended for four matches.

• The Springboks were far more disciplined in the other two Tests, though, keeping all 15 men on the field and managing a single-figure penalty count on each occasion.

Team news

• Ardie Savea will become the 15th All Black to reach 100 Tests as he becomes New Zealand’s second test centurion in as many Rugby Championship matches after hooker Taylor in the loss to Argentina.

• Savea, who made his debut against Wales in 2016 and is the All Blacks’ record try-scoring forward, captained New Zealand in their 100th Test against South Africa in 2021.

• The starting line-up shows three personnel and two positional changes from round two.

• Vaa’i shifts from blindside to partner captain Scott Barrett in the second row with Fabian Holland dropping to the bench.

• Simon Parker, who made his debut in Argentina, fills the vacated No 6 shirt with Wallace Sititi coming in at No 8. Savea completes the back-row triumvirate.

• Ethan de Groot, Taylor and Newell contain as the All Blacks’ front row.

• The first change to the backline comes at scrumhalf with Finlay Christie promoted to start after Ratima was ruled out with a rib fracture.

• He will partner Beauden Barrett, one of three Test centurions in the starting line-up, at half-back with Jordie Barrett and Proctor the retained centre pairing.

• Rieko Ioane and Jordan remain in the back three but Emoni Narawa replaces Reece on the right wing to win his fourth cap.

• There is a potential debutant on the bench in scrumhalf Kyle Preston, while Tyrel Lomax and Du’Plessis Kirifi are both back among the replacements for this weekend.

• South Africa welcome their most-capped player Eben Etzebeth back to the starting line-up as one of four changes to the starting line-up from their round two victory over Australia.

• Etzebeth will partner Ruan Nortje in the second-row behind the unchanged trio of Ox Nche, Marx and Thomas du Toit.

• Two further changes come in the back row with the returns of World Rugby Men’s 15s Player of the Year 2024 Pieter-Steph du Toit and Kolisi. Du Toit will play his 90th Test for the Springboks in a back row that also features Marco van Staden,

• Grant Williams and Pollard go again as the half-back pairing with Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel outside them in midfield.

• Kriel retains the captaincy despite the return of Kolisi, having already been informed he would captain the Springboks at Eden Park before Kolisi was passed fit to play.

• Moodie and Cheslin Kolbe line up on the wings again but there is a change at fullback with Le Roux coming in for his 101st Test after a niggle saw him withdraw from the starting line-up to face Australia.

• There are also three changes to the bench with Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Kwagga Smith and Ethan Hooker taking their places among the five-three split opted for by Rassie Erasmus.

Coach notes

• Scott Robertson was appointed New Zealand coach in March 2024, on a four-year deal through to the end of Men’s Rugby World Cup 2027.

• This is his 20th Test in charge and already he has lost five matches.

• The 51-year-old has overseen five losses in fewer matches than the last four head coaches before him – Ian Foster, Steve Hansen, Graham Henry and John Mitchell.

• Robertson played 23 Tests for the All Blacks as a loose forward between 1998 and 2002.

• He guided the Crusaders to six consecutive Super Rugby titles as head coach from 2017 onwards, having won four with the Christchurch-based team as a player.

• The Bay of Plenty-born Robertson cut his coaching teeth with Canterbury, leading the team to three Premiership titles as head coach.

• During his time with Canterbury, Robertson also coached the New Zealand U20 side to the World Rugby U20 Championship crown in 2015.

• Rassie Erasmus returned to the Springboks head coach role in February 2024, signing a contract that takes him up to the end of 2027.

• Erasmus was the mastermind behind the Springboks’ back-to-back Rugby World Cup successes of 2019 and 2023 – as head coach and then director of rugby.

• His reign in charge started with a defeat to Wales in Washington DC in June 2018.

• Erasmus won 36 caps for South Africa as a back-row forward from 1997-2001.

New Zealand v South Africa at Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand - Saturday @ 9.05am

Referee: Karl Dickson (RFU)

Assistant Referees: Nika Amashukeli (GRU), Jordan Way (RA)

Television Match Official: Brett Cronan (RA)

Split Screen/FPRO: Eric Gauzins (FFR)

All Blacks starting XV: 15 Will Jordan, 14 Emoni Narawa, 13 Billy Proctor, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Rieko Ioane; 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Finlay Christie; 8 Wallace Sititi, 7 Ardie Savea, 6 Simon Parker; 5 Tupou Vaa'i, 4 Scott Barrett (capt); 3 Fletcher Newell, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Ethan de Groot. Replacements: 16 Samisoni Taukei’aho, 17 Tamaiti Williams, 18 Tyrel Lomax, 19 Fabian Holland, 20 Du’Plessis Kirifi, 21 Kyle Preston, 22 Quinn Tupaea, 23 Damian McKenzie.

Springboks starting XV: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel (capt), 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Canan Moodie; 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Grant Williams; 8 Siya Kolisi, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Marco van Staden; 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Eben Etzebeth; 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche. Replacements: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 23 Ethan Hooker.