The All Blacks perform a haka before a test against the Springboks. Photo / Photosport
New Zealand Rugby boss Mark Robinson sat down with the Rugby Direct podcast to discuss all the game’s burning issues. One enticing proposition centres on the return of old-school international tours.
The prospect of reviving reciprocal All Blacks and Springboks tours is inching closer to reality.
Other than the celebrated British and Irish Lions ventures to New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, professionalism has largely killed off the once-treasured tour concept.
Two weeks ago in Sydney, though, southern hemisphere powerbrokers further advanced the push for the All Blacks and South Africa to stage throwback tours.
Talks are continuing for the All Blacks to play at least three tests and midweek matches in South Africa, and for the Springboks to return suit and travel in New Zealand.
The Herald understands the All Blacks and Springboks tours could take place once every four years, with the first tentatively planned for 2026 in South Africa. The blueprint is then for the Springboks to tour New Zealand and play midweek matches against Super Rugby teams in 2030 – one year after the next men’s British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand.
While the back-to-the-future tour concept is not finalised, New Zealand Rugby (NZR) chief executive Mark Robinson, in a wide-ranging interview with the Rugby Direct podcast, confirmed the plans.
“There’s been some talk around All Blacks and Springboks tours. We’re continuing to talk about those opportunities,” Robinson said.
The final piece of the puzzle will be arranging fixtures for the Wallabies and Pumas to supplement a truncated Rugby Championship in scheduled tour years.
“That was part of the conversations we had last week in Sydney. It potentially has some impact around the nature of what a traditional Rugby Championship looks like, so how do we work through with all the partners involved to make sure something like that can be additive for all the teams across the Sanzaar joint venture.
“It’s definitely something that’s on the radar. There’s a bit more work to do at this stage.”
The prospect of successive tours – the men’s Lions followed by the Springboks – would ignite New Zealand rugby audiences.
While the Rugby Championship now features the Springboks and All Blacks hosting each other twice every second year, the last genuine tour involving rugby’s greatest rivals was held in 1996 when the Sean Fitzpatrick-led All Blacks won three tests to capture their first series success in the Republic.
“When you think about not only the fantastic rivalry between the All Blacks and Springboks but the wider connection around midweek games and the ability to get right around the country, that’s something that brings the country, here and in South Africa, alive. A lot of thought goes into that,” Robinson said.
“One-off matches are great but if you can bring an extended period of real excitement, right across the country, they’re moments rugby wants to be involved in. We talk a lot about how we can inspire and unify the country, well, I don’t think you get better moments than those sorts of opportunities to do that.”
Discussions around reviving tours signals the improvement in New Zealand-South Africa rugby relations after a tense period following South Africa’s abrupt exit from Super Rugby during Covid shutdowns.
Despite widespread speculation in recent years the Springboks were seeking to join the Six Nations, Robinson holds no fears South Africa will exit the Rugby Championship.
“No. Going back a few years, that relationship was challenged for a wee bit but we’ve had great dialogue with them in recent times.
“There’s different talk between us both, not just at international level but age-grade development, about how we make sure we connect and let players experience the great rivalry.”
Robinson also revealed the future of the Rugby Championship could be determined by the middle of this year to align with the next broadcast deal from 2026.
“Ideally with the media rights cycle we want to, in the first half of this year, finalise what we go to market with around new competitions,” Robinson said.
With the Nations Championship – the world’s top 12 teams competing for global supremacy – set to start in 2026, Japan and Fiji’s inclusion in the Rugby Championship was further discussed in Sydney alongside reviving tours.
“The notion of expansion was talked about,” Robinson said. “Based on what we know around the Nations Championship, the southern hemisphere will be represented by six teams in that competition. That provides a natural springboard to think about does that mean six teams sit within the Rugby Championship.
“The global game is challenged at the moment so you’ve got to make sure the revenue and cost models all stack up to make it work.
“Fiji, we’ve seen it through the Drua, they offer a huge amount. Great rugby, storylines, personality and unique settings to play. And Japan, one of the top-five largest economies in the world with a 100-year history in the game and after their amazing World Cup where we saw the cut-through, both teams have unique offerings we need to seriously consider.
“But we can’t go into things and then find out we can’t afford to do it or it’s not going to have the value generation we hope for.”
Mark Robinson on:
All Blacks jerseys having players’ last names on the back, as we’ve seen in the Six Nations:
“It’s not on the top of the list at the moment but it would need a lot of people inputting into that. It’s not for me immediately.”
The All Blacks playing in Saudi Arabia:
“There’s lots of different ideas around different markets but that is not something that is being considered.”
Whether selling 7.5 per cent of NZR to US equity firm Silver Lake was the right move:
“Absolutely. This was always going to be a strategy that took time to evolve. When you look at similar deals done around the world we believe the timing was excellent in terms of the value. Setting up the new NZ Commercial entity takes time. The board was only finalised last year.
“In terms of the insights we’re seeing around connecting to the fans, we believe in the long term this will be achieved but it will take time.”
NZR backing the proposal for a Quay Park downtown stadium:
“We have a huge amount of respect for Eden Park. There’s a long history between NZ Rugby and Eden Park – some great historic moments that our teams remember fondly.
“This juncture provides an interesting opportunity to see what other alternatives might be out there. We’ve been involved in various conversations in that space. We are interested in what some of those opportunities could present.
“At this stage it’s nothing more than that. We’re open to what new models could look like. If there are transformational opportunities then we’re a part of that. Rugby has a leadership role to play here, too. If by indicating we’re interested in different models that allows opportunity for alternative models then we think that’s healthy.”
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