Springboks v New Zealand: Down to the wire in Baltimore

SOUTH AFRICA v NEW ZEALAND

M&T BANK STADIUM, BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, USA ON SATURDAY – KO 5PM (LOCAL TIME; 11PM SAST; 9AM SUNDAY NZT)

REFEREE

Karl Dickson (England)

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

Tests as referee: 30 (including one as replacement referee)

• Karl Dickson will referee this fixture for the second time, having been in the middle for New Zealand’s 24-17 victory at Eden Park in the 2025 Rugby Championship.

• That match is South Africa’s only loss in four Tests with Dickson as referee.

• Two of the wins coming on home soil, beating Argentina 29-10 on his Rugby Championship debut in Gqeberha in August 2021 and Ireland 27-20 in Johannesburg in July 2024.

• South Africa’s other win came against Wales, 45-12 in the 2024 Autumn Nations Series in Cardiff.

• New Zealand are yet to lose a Test with Dickson in the middle, beating Italy (47-9 in November 2021), Ireland (42-19 in July 2022), Argentina (23-20 in August 2023) and Australia (31-28 in September 2024).

• Dickson oversaw the opening match of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series, New Zealand’s 38-21 victory over the Stormers in Cape Town on 7 August.

• This is Dickson’s fourth Test of the year, having overseen Ireland’s 36-14 loss to France and 27-17 victory over Wales in the Guinness Men’s Six Nations and Les Bleus’ 42-21 defeat of the Nations Championship in July.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

1921-2026 | Played 113 | South Africa 45 | New Zealand 64 | Draw 4

Points for: South Africa 1 928/New Zealand 2 352 (Avg. score: 17-21)

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

Biggest winning margin: South Africa 33 (43-10 on 13 September, 2025)/New Zealand 57 (57-0 on 16 September, 2017)

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

• This is the first time that the teams have met on US soil.

• Following last weekend’s 29-24 victory, South Africa have taken a 2-1 lead in the Rugby Greatest Rivalry series.

• It was the Springboks' seventh win in the last nine meetings with the All Blacks, with each team crossing for four tries apiece in Soweto.

• The All Blacks have yet to be outscored on the try count in any of the matches and lead the Springboks 13 tries to eight overall.

• New Zealand have also scored more points across the three matches, with 83 to South Africa’s 78.

• South Africa have kicked eight penalties to New Zealand’s none.

• The team with the lowest share of possession has won all three matches.

• New Zealand held the lead for longer in the first and third Tests but looking at the series as a whole, South Africa have been in front on the scoreboard for more minutes (137-70).

• New Zealand enjoyed their biggest win over South Africa in nine years in the opening Test in Johannesburg, since they ran out 57-0 winners in North Harbour in September 2017.

• It was the All Blacks’ biggest win over the Springboks in South Africa in a decade, since the 57-15 victory in Durban the previous year.

SA TEAM NOTES

• The Springboks have only played three Test matches on US soil in history, beating the USA 38-7 in 1981 and 43-10 in 2001 before a narrow 22-20 defeat against Wales in Washington DC in 2018 in what was Rassie Erasmus’ first Test in charge as head coach.

• South Africa have only lost three of their last 25 Tests (38-22 v Australia and 24-17 v New Zealand in 2025 and 33-16 v New Zealand last month).

• South Africa have conceded four tries or more in each of their last three Tests (13 in total).

• South Africa conceded five tries in a Test for the first time in 15 matches when losing 33-16 to New Zealand in the first test of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series.

• The defeat ended South Africa’s 12-match winning streak – their best sequence of results under Erasmus and the most consecutive wins since they achieved 13 in a row between 2007-08.

• South Africa conceded multiple yellow cards in a single match for the first time in 24 Tests in the opening encounter with New Zealand.

• They have had four players sin-binned in the series overall, following Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s early yellow card in the third Test in Soweto.

• Feinberg-Mngomezulu failed to convert Kurt-Lee Arendse’s early try for the Springboks on his return to the field – the first miss of the series, after Cheslin Kolbe had kicked 11 from 11.

• South Africa have yet to trail at half-time in 2026 (W4, D3), with their first-half points total ranging from 10 to 24.

• Jesse Kriel is the only Springbok player to have scored multiple tries (2).

• Kolbe is the leading points scorer in the series with 29 (all from kicks) but will miss the final test due to injury.

• South Africa went into the latest Test campaign, which began with a 17-10 win over Argentina, sitting on top of the Nations Championship southern hemisphere standings on points difference, having picked up maximum points from their first three fixtures.

• The Springboks’ points difference is +81, 30 better than fellow unbeaten side New Zealand.

• With the win over Scotland in round two, South Africa became the first team since England in 2002-03 to beat every Men’s Six Nations and Rugby Championship team in a 12-month period.

• South Africa scored the most points (130) and tries (20) in the Nations Championship in July.

• Strong starters and finishers, seven of South Africa’s tries were scored in the first quarter and seven in the final quarter.

• The Springboks had the most entries into the opposition 22 across the first three rounds (43).

SQUAD NOTES

• Rassie Erasmus has made two changes to his starting line-up from the third Test, both of them in the backline.

• With Kolbe sidelined with a broken jaw, Damian Willemse returns at fullback having recovered from the hamstring injury that forced him to miss the second Test.

• The other Springbok change sees scrumhalf Morne van den Berg given his first start of the year, swapping places with Reinach.

• The loose trio of Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Jasper Wiese will play their 19th Test together as a combination, extending the record they set in Soweto by surpassing the benchmark of Francois Louw, Willem Alberts and Duane Vermeulen.

• Two players have joined the ranks of Springbok centurions during this series in centre Damian de Allende and Du Toit, while Ox Nché brought up his own 50 in Cape Town.

• Wiese should be the next to bring up a milestone with his 50th Test potentially coming against Australia at the end of this month.

COACH NOTES

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

• The win over Les Bleus at the Stade de France on 8 November was his 50th as head coach.

• He has overseen 34 Tests in his second spell, winning 29 and losing five (85.3%).

• Overall, he has been in charge of 57 Tests (head coach/director of rugby) and moved past Jake White as the Springboks’ most experienced coach during the Nations Championship.

• 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.

• He also led South Africa to their first Rugby Championship title in five years in 2024 and a clean sweep of victories in the Autumn Nations Series that followed.

• His first 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.

NZ TEAM NOTES

• New Zealand have played five previous Tests in the US (W4, L1) between 2014-24.

• They have beaten the USA twice (74-6 in 2014 and 104-14 in 2021), Fiji (47-5 in 2024) and Ireland (26-13 in 2025).

• Bay of Plenty hooker Nathan Harris has the honour of being the first All Black to score a Test try on American soil, crossing three minutes into the 2014 match, which featured a brace from Sonny Bill Williams.

• Soldier Field in Chicago was the venue for three of the five matches played on US soil, including a first-ever loss to Ireland in 2016 (40-29).

• Following defeats in the second and third tests against South Africa, New Zealand have lost back-to-back Tests for the first time in two years (since August-September 2024 v South Africa).

• New Zealand have scored more than 20 points in each of their last 12 Tests, dating back to their record 43-10 loss to South Africa in Wellington in September 2025.

• New Zealand scored four tries against the Springboks last weekend, taking their tally for the year to 31 from six matches.

• Ardie Savea bagged a brace in the 29-24 loss and is joint leading try-scorer in the series with Will Jordan, on three.

• Ruben Love has kicked eight conversions and is the All Blacks’ leading points scorer with 16.

• The All Blacks won all three of their games in the Nations Championship Southern Hemisphere Series preceding this tour – beating France 34-32, Italy 47-17 and Ireland 40-21 with a bonus point to sit second, behind South Africa only on points difference.

• New Zealand kept the ball in hand across those three matches, making the most passes (723), carries (599), metres (1 767) and post-contact metres (581).

• New Zealand are ranked first in the competition for defenders beaten (126) and are second for clean breaks (46).

• Only two teams kicked the ball fewer times in open play than the All Blacks’ total of 57 but they have executed the most 50:22s (three).

• New Zealand retained the joint-highest percentage of kicks (15.79%, along with Australia and Ireland).

• Jordan is the leading try scorer in the Nations Championship with six, his hat-trick against Italy seeing him break Doug Howlett’s long-standing record of 49 tries for the All Blacks.

• Jordan now has 54 tries in just 60 Tests, giving him a strike rate of 0.90 tries per game.

• His try in the 40-21 win over Ireland preserved the All Blacks’ 32-year unbeaten record at Eden Park.

• Patrick Tuipulotu, captain Ardie Savea and Asafo Aumua also crossed in the first half before Damian McKenzie and Anton Lienert-Brown went over in the second.

• New Zealand scored seven tries in round two against Italy, with Sam Darry, Cam Roigard, Ethan de Groot and Tupou Vaa'i crossing the line in addition to Jordan’s treble.

• New Zealand overcame France 34-32 in Christchurch in round one to get Dave Rennie’s reign as All Blacks head coach off to a winning start.

• Jordan and Roigard scored twice as the All Blacks profited from having the highest percentage of quick ruck ball in round one (81%).

SQUAD NOTES

• New Zealand are without inspirational captain Savea, who suffered a dislocated shoulder last weekend.

• Centre Quinn Tupaea (MCL) and Luke Jacobson (elbow) are also ruled out and returning home alongside six other players released from the squad.

• They are Josh Jacomb, Siale Lauaki, Saula Ma’u, Cortez Ratima (knee), Bradley Slater and Ofa Tu’ungafasi.

• Savea and Jacobson have played in every Test under head coach Dave Rennie to date, so he has been forced to field a new-look back row in Baltimore.

COACH NOTES

• Rennie was appointed as Scott Robertson’s successor in March, the first person of Pasifika heritage to hold the role of All Blacks head coach.

• He has overseen six Test to date (W4, L2).

• Rennie led Kobe Steelers to the Japan Rugby League One title in June before officially starting his new role with the All Blacks.

• Rennie coached Australia from late 2019 to early 2023, winning just 13 of his 34 Tests in charge (38%) – giving him the lowest winning record of any Wallabies coach with at least 30 Tests.

• The three wins over South Africa were the highlight of his time in charge, while a first-ever Wallabies’ defeat to Italy was probably the low point.

• Before taking on the Australia job, Rennie coached Glasgow for three years and led them to the PRO14 final in 2019, playing an attacking brand of rugby.

• Having cut his coaching teeth as an assistant at Wellington Lions and the Hurricanes, Rennie led New Zealand to three consecutive Junior World Championship titles (2008-10) with 15 wins from 15.

YOU KNOW…?

• This is the first time that the city of Baltimore hosts a Test match since USA beat Canada 12-7 in 1978.

• New Zealand have also played once before in the state of Maryland, beating the USA 104-14 at FedEx Field in Landover in November 2021.

• Should the series be drawn, each nation will retain one half of the Rivalry Trophy, which is made up of two parts drawn together by magnetism.

WORLD RUGBY MEN’S RANKINGS PERMUTATIONS

• The No 1 ranking is again on the line with New Zealand set to return to the summit with victory in the final test of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series in Baltimore.

• This would be the third time in the series that the No1 team has changed.

• A win by more than 15 points would see New Zealand establish a 1.30 rating point cushion over South Africa.

• However, victory for South Africa could see their advantage grow to as much as 4.70 rating points with a win by more than 15 points – a vast improvement on the 1.68-point cushion they held over New Zealand going into the series.

Springbok starting XV: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Ethan Hooker; 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Morne van den Berg; 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (capt); 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Eben Etzebeth; 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche. Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Andre Esterhuizen, 21 Cameron Hanekom, 22 Cobus Reinach, 23 Manie Libbok.

All Black starting XV: 15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Will Jordan, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Josh Moorby; 10 Richie Mo’unga, 9 Cam Roigard; 8 Peter Lakai, 7 Ethan Blackadder, 6 Tupou Vaa’i; 5 Sam Darry, 4 Patrick Tuipulotu; 3 Fletcher Newell, 2 Codie Taylor (capt), 1 Ethan de Groot. Replacements: 16 Asafo Aumua, 17 Xavier Numia, 18 Tyrel Lomax, 19 Josh Lord, 20 Wallace Sititi, 21 Kyle Preston, 22 Rieko Ioane, 23 Beauden Barrett.