History of rugby union matches between New Zealand and South Africa explained

New Zealand (the All Blacks) and South Africa (the Springboks) have been playing Test Match Rugby against each other since 1921 when the All Blacks beat the Springboks in Dunedin 13–5. It is argued to be the biggest rivalry in World Rugby history. There is considerable history behind these matches, much of it off the field. In 1981, there were numerous protests in New Zealand over the Springboks coming to tour New Zealand due to the then South African government's policy of Apartheid. Consequently, subsequent tours were cancelled and the All Blacks and Springboks did not meet again until August 1992, in Johannesburg, when the Springboks were re-admitted to World Rugby. Until 1996 New Zealand had never won a series in South Africa but South Africa had won a series in New Zealand in 1937.

Since 2004 New Zealand and South Africa have contested the Freedom Cup. It has remained a trophy contested annually in the Tri Nations Series/Rugby Championship since 2006.^[1]

Summary

Overall

Details^[2] ^[3]	Played	Won by New Zealand	Won by South Africa	Drawn	New Zealand points	South Africa points
In New Zealand	46	33	10	3	1,003	616
In South Africa	52	25	26	1	1,037	967
Neutral venue	8	4	4	0	156	157
Overall	106	62	40	4	2,196	1,740

Records

Note: Date shown in brackets indicates when the record was or last set.

Record	New Zealand	South Africa
Longest winning streak	8 (21 July 2001 – 14 August 2004)	6 (4 September 1937 – 14 July 1956)
World Cup Head to Head
Final	0	2
Overall	3	3
Largest points for
Home	57 (16 September 2017)	46 (19 August 2000)
Away	57 (8 October 2016)	36 (15 September 2018)
Largest winning margin
Home	57 (16 September 2017)	17 (30 June 1928)
Away	42 (8 October 2016)	12 (29 August 1981)
Neutral	20 (9 November 2003)	28 (25 August 2023)
Largest aggregate score
90 (South Africa 35–55 New Zealand) (9 August 1997)

Results

No.	Date	Venue	Score	Winner	Competition
1	13 August 1921	Carisbrook, Dunedin	13–5		1921 South Africa tour of Australia and New Zealand
2	27 August 1921	Eden Park, Auckland	5–9
3	17 September 1921	Athletic Park, Wellington	0–0	draw
4	30 June 1928	Kingsmead Cricket Ground, Durban	17–0		1928 New Zealand tour of South Africa
5	21 July 1928	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg	6–7
6	18 August 1928	Crusaders Ground, Port Elizabeth	11–6
7	1 September 1928	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town	5–13
8	14 August 1937	Athletic Park, Wellington	13–7		1937 South Africa tour of Australia and New Zealand
9	4 September 1937	Lancaster Park, Christchurch	6–13
10	25 September 1937	Eden Park, Auckland	6–17
11	16 July 1949	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town	15–11		1949 New Zealand tour of South Africa
12	13 August 1949	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg	12–6
13	3 September 1949	Kingsmead Cricket Ground, Durban	9–3
14	17 September 1949	Crusaders Ground, Port Elizabeth	11–8
15	14 July 1956	Carisbrook, Dunedin	10–6		1956 South Africa tour of Australia and New Zealand
16	4 August 1956	Athletic Park, Wellington	3–8
17	18 August 1956	Lancaster Park, Christchurch	17–10
18	1 September 1956	Eden Park, Auckland	11–5
19	25 June 1960	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg	13–0		1960 New Zealand tour of Australia and South Africa
20	23 July 1960	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town	3–11
21	13 August 1960	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein	11–11	draw
22	27 August 1960	Boet Erasmus Stadium, Port Elizabeth	8–3
23	31 July 1965	Athletic Park, Wellington	6–3		1965 South Africa tour of Australia and New Zealand
24	21 August 1965	Carisbrook, Dunedin	13–0
25	4 September 1965	Lancaster Park, Christchurch	16–19
26	18 September 1965	Eden Park, Auckland	20–3
27	25 July 1970	Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria	17–6		1970 New Zealand tour of South Africa
28	8 August 1970	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town	8–9
29	29 August 1970	Boet Erasmus Stadium, Port Elizabeth	14–3
30	12 September 1970	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg	20–17
31	24 July 1976	Kings Park Stadium, Durban	16–7		1976 New Zealand tour of South Africa
32	14 August 1976	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein	9–15
33	4 September 1976	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town	15–10
34	18 September 1976	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg	15–14
35	15 August 1981	Lancaster Park, Christchurch	14–9		1981 South Africa tour of New Zealand and the United States
36	29 August 1981	Athletic Park, Wellington	12–24
37	12 September 1981	Eden Park, Auckland	25–22
38	15 August 1992	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg	24–27		1992 New Zealand tour of Australia and South Africa
39	9 July 1994	Carisbrook, Dunedin	22–14		1994 South Africa tour of New Zealand
40	23 July 1994	Athletic Park, Wellington	13–9
41	6 August 1994	Eden Park, Auckland	18–18	draw
42	24 June 1995	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg	15–12		1995 Rugby World Cup
43	20 July 1996	Lancaster Park, Christchurch	15–11		1996 Tri Nations Series
44	10 August 1996	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town	18–29
45	17 August 1996	Kings Park Stadium, Durban	19–23		1996 New Zealand tour of South Africa
46	24 August 1996	Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria	26–33
47	31 August 1996	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg	32–22
48	19 July 1997	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg	32–35		1997 Tri Nations Series
49	9 August 1997	Eden Park, Auckland	55–35
50	25 July 1998	Athletic Park, Wellington	3–13		1998 Tri Nations Series
51	15 August 1998	Kings Park Stadium, Durban	24–23
52	10 July 1999	Carisbrook, Dunedin	28–0		1999 Tri Nations Series
53	7 August 1999	Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria	18–34
54	4 November 1999	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff (Wales)	22–18		1999 Rugby World Cup
55	22 July 2000	Lancaster Park, Christchurch	25–12		2000 Tri Nations Series
56	19 August 2000	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg	46–40
57	21 July 2001	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town	3–12		2001 Tri Nations Series
58	25 August 2001	Eden Park, Auckland	26–15
59	20 July 2002	Wellington Regional Stadium, Wellington	41–20		2002 Tri Nations Series
60	10 August 2002	Kings Park Stadium, Durban	23–30
61	19 July 2003	Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria	16–52		2003 Tri Nations Series
62	9 August 2003	Carisbrook, Dunedin	19–11
63	9 November 2003	Docklands Stadium, Melbourne (Australia)	29–9		2003 Rugby World Cup
64	24 July 2004	Lancaster Park, Christchurch	23–21		2004 Tri Nations Series
65	14 August 2004	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg	40–26
66	6 August 2005	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town	22–16		2005 Tri Nations Series
67	27 August 2005	Carisbrook, Dunedin	31–27
68	22 July 2006	Wellington Regional Stadium, Wellington	35–17		2006 Tri Nations Series
69	26 August 2006	Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria	26–45
70	2 September 2006	Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg	21–20
71	23 June 2007	Kings Park Stadium, Durban	21–26		2007 Tri Nations Series
72	14 July 2007	Lancaster Park, Christchurch	33–6
73	5 July 2008	Wellington Regional Stadium, Wellington	19–8		2008 Tri Nations Series
74	12 July 2008	Carisbrook, Dunedin	28–30
75	16 August 2008	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town	0–19
76	25 July 2009	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein	28–19		2009 Tri Nations Series
77	1 August 2009	Kings Park Stadium, Durban	31–19
78	12 September 2009	Waikato Stadium, Hamilton	29–32
79	10 July 2010	Eden Park, Auckland	32–12		2010 Tri Nations Series
80	17 July 2010	Wellington Regional Stadium, Wellington	31–17
81	21 August 2010	FNB Stadium, Johannesburg	22–29
82	30 July 2011	Wellington Regional Stadium, Wellington	40–7		2011 Tri Nations Series
83	20 August 2011	Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth	18–5
84	15 September 2012	Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin	21–11		2012 Rugby Championship
85	6 October 2012	FNB Stadium, Johannesburg	16–32
86	14 September 2013	Eden Park, Auckland	29–15		2013 Rugby Championship
87	5 October 2013	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg	27–38
88	13 September 2014	Wellington Regional Stadium, Wellington	14–10		2014 Rugby Championship
89	4 October 2014	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg	27–25
90	25 July 2015	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg	20–27		2015 Rugby Championship
91	24 October 2015	Twickenham Stadium, London (England)	18–20		2015 Rugby World Cup
92	17 September 2016	Rugby League Park, Christchurch	41–13		2016 Rugby Championship
93	8 October 2016	Kings Park Stadium, Durban	15–57
94	16 September 2017	North Harbour Stadium, Albany	57–0		2017 Rugby Championship
95	7 October 2017	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town	24–25
96	15 September 2018	Wellington Regional Stadium, Wellington	34–36		2018 Rugby Championship
97	6 October 2018	Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria	30–32
98	27 July 2019	Wellington Regional Stadium, Wellington	16–16	draw	2019 Rugby Championship
99	21 September 2019	International Stadium Yokohama, Yokohama (Japan)	23–13		2019 Rugby World Cup
100	25 September 2021	North Queensland Stadium, Townsville (Australia)	19–17		2021 Rugby Championship
101	2 October 2021	Robina Stadium, Gold Coast (Australia)	29–31
102	6 August 2022	Mbombela Stadium, Mbombela	26–10		2022 Rugby Championship
103	13 August 2022	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg	23–35
104	15 July 2023	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	35–20		2023 Rugby Championship
105	25 August 2023	Twickenham Stadium, London (England)	7–35		2023 Rugby World Cup warm-up match
106	28 October 2023	Stade de France, Saint-Denis (France)	11–12		2023 Rugby World Cup
107	31 August 2024	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg			2024 Rugby Championship
108	7 September 2024	Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town

List of series

Year	width=95px	New Zealand	width=95px	South Africa	width=112px	Series winner
1921	1	1	draw
1928	2	2	draw
1937	1	2
1949	0	4
1956	3	1
1960	1	2
1965	3	1
1970	1	3
1976	1	3
1981	2	1
1994	2	0
1996	2	1

Venues

In New Zealand

Stadium	City	Won by New Zealand	Won by South Africa	Draw
Eden Park	Auckland	7	2	1
North Harbour Stadium		1	0	0
Overall	11	8	2	1
Lancaster Park	Christchurch	6	2	0
Rugby League Park		1	0	0
Overall	9	7	2	0
Carisbrook	Dunedin	7	1	0
Forsyth Barr Stadium		1	0	0
Overall	9	8	1	0
Waikato Stadium	Hamilton	0	1	0
Overall	1	0	1	0
Athletic Park	Wellington	3	3	1
Wellington Regional Stadium		6	1	1
Overall	15	9	4	2
align=center colspan=2	Total	32	10	3

In South Africa

Stadium	City	Won by South Africa	Won by New Zealand	Draw
Free State Stadium	Bloemfontein	1	1	1
Overall	3	1	1	1
Newlands	Cape Town	3	7	0
Overall	10	3	7	0
Kings Park Stadium	Durban	5	4	0
Kingsmead		2	0	0
Overall	11	7	4	0
Ellis Park	Johannesburg	9	6	0
FNB Stadium		0	2	0
Overall	15	9	8	0
Mbombela Stadium	Mbombela	1	0	0
Overall	1	1	0	0
Boet Erasmus Stadium	Port Elizabeth	2	0	0
Crusaders Ground		2	0	0
Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium		1	0	0
Overall	5	5	0	0
Loftus Versfeld Stadium	Pretoria	1	5	0
Overall	6	1	5	0
Royal Bafokeng Stadium	Rustenburg	1	0	0
Overall	1	1	0	0
align=center colspan=2	Total	26	25	1

See also

• New Zealand Cavaliers
• Rugby union in New Zealand
• Rugby union in South Africa

External links

• Complete List of Results at ESPN
• New Zealand v South Africa Head to Head on Allblacks.com
• Statistics for New Zealand vs South Africa on Rugbydata.com
• Web site: Pick and Go Test match results database . lassen.co.nz . 2008-11-25.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Tri-Nations review – 16 years of the Springboks . super.rugby . . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20221208235528/https://super.rugby/therugbychampionship/news/tri-nations-review-16-years-of-the-wallabies/tri-nations-review-16-years-of-the-springboks/ . 8 December 2022 .
2. Web site: Match Centre: New Zealand – South Africa . stats.allblacks.com .
3. Web site: New Zealand rugby results, 1965–2023 . rugbyhistory.co.nz . New Zealand Rugby History .