Respected New Zealand broadcaster Tony Johnson has hinted that the final Test of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry won’t be taking place at the Allianz Stadium, as many have predicted.
Last week, NZ and SA Rugby finally revealed details of the All Blacks’ eight-game tour of South Africa, with Scott Robertson’s men set to face the Springboks in four Test matches, one of which will be on foreign soil.
The first three Tests will take place at Ellis Park, DHL Stadium in Cape Town and FNB Stadium (formerly Soccer City) in Johannesburg, respectively.
However, the venue for the final match of the series was not disclosed, with the statement from the union simply saying ‘a landmark fourth Test hosted at a neutral international venue’.
Croke Park to host Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry?
Fans have predicted that the Allianz Stadium, formerly Twickenham, would be the final venue for the Greatest Rivalry tour, with the Springboks playing three matches at the ground, not against England, since 2023.
Johnson suggests that might not be the case, though, having heard ‘mumblings’ of the fixture being taken to the iconic and sacred Croke Park in Dublin.
The venue, which is the home of GGA (Gaelic Athletic Association), has opened its doors to rugby more regularly in the past, with Leinster making use of the ground while the RDS Arena is renovated, while Ireland has also played games there in recent times when the Aviva Stadium has been worked on.
“Well, Twickenham was the talk early on, but I’ve just heard, and I don’t know how much traction there is to this, but the mumblings that I’m hearing is that Croke Park in Dublin is now a possibility,” the Sky Sports NZ commentator told Martin Devlin on the DSPN podcast.
“That’s just something that’s been floating around. If it is the case, man, that would be a special occasion.”
Devlin added: “You’ve got to get permission to do that because there’s a lot of history that has taken place at that and a lot of geopolitical history as well.”
Johnson continued: “Absolutely. There was a terrible thing that happened there during the uprising, and for a number of reasons, it was decreed that it would be the headquarters of the GAA, those uniquely Irish games, hurling and Gaelic football.
“And the deal always was nothing else, rugby was seen as a British game, and it wasn’t to be played there.
“But of course, as things thought out mercifully over the years, attitudes softened and changed, and when they rebuilt the Aviva into the magnificent stadium that it is today, they needed somewhere to go, and they reached an accord. And so Ireland took games there, and the first one was this incredible moment when they played England, and everyone wondered what it was going to be like. Do they even have national anthems? What do they do? And it was something quite incredible that happened.
“And then of course the All Blacks got to go there, and for me it was an honour to be able to be there in that stadium. When you go into the offices and you see photos up on the wall, you get a sense of just how important this is.
“Look, if that’s the case, it’ll be a fantastic opportunity to play at a sacred ground. It’s more than words like bastion and fortress; this is sacred.”
The two nations have played just once, each, at Croke Park, with the All Blacks emerging 22-3 victors at the venue in 2008 – Ireland’s largest defeat at the ground. A year later, the Springboks fell to a 15-10 defeat.
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Rest of the tour
Zoning in on the tour of South Africa, Johnson is relishing the opportunity to see the All Blacks and Springboks slug it out and warned Robertson’s side of the magnitude of the occasion that awaits them.
“The rest of the tour, the four URC sides and the Test matches, don’t underestimate how tough this is going to be; to play those Tests in consecutive weekends against such a powerful South African team. They are taking on something that is really, really gruelling, really tough,” he added.
“The tours of South Africa have always been tough, but man, this is going to be some sort of challenge, particularly with the strength of the Springboks at the moment.”
READ MORE: Springboks v All Blacks: A comprehensive analysis of the 12 previous Greatest Rivalry series