South Africa will play a test match against New Zealand in Baltimore, Maryland, in September as the battle between the two highest-ranked rugby union nations arrives in the United States for the first time.<\/p>\n
The Springboks and the All Blacks will play at the M&T Bank Stadium \u2013 the home of the NFL\u2019s Baltimore Ravens \u2013 on September 12, 2026. Baltimore is one of 27 potential host cities vying to be part of the men\u2019s Rugby World Cup, which will take place in the U.S. in 2031.<\/p>\n
It will be the fourth and final test match of this year\u2019s edition of a series promoted as Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry, which takes place every four years. The three prior tests will be played in South Africa, before a finale at the 71,000-seater venue in Baltimore. The match will be promoted by TEG Rugby Live.<\/p>\n
New Zealand have made several trips to the United States in recent years, including two games against Ireland in Chicago, as well as a match against Fiji in San Diego and a game against the U.S. in Washington, D.C. It all forms part of the All Blacks\u2019 strategy to grow its brand stateside ahead of the Rugby World Cup in the U.S. in 2031, ahead of the women\u2019s edition taking place in the United States in 2033.<\/p>\n
South Africa previously played against the U.S. in Houston in 2001 and faced Wales in D.C. in 2018.<\/p>\n
\u201cTaking the Springboks to new audiences and territories is a key objective for South African rugby and the opportunity to do so in a ground-breaking match against our fiercest rivals was a major determinant in where the fourth Test would be played,\u201d said Rian Oberholzer, CEO of SA Rugby, in a news release issued on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the All Blacks have played in the USA often in the past, the Boks have only played there twice this millennium, and we\u2019re very excited to take them to Baltimore and engage with a developing rugby ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n
Interim CEO of New Zealand Rugby Steve Lancaster added: \u201cHaving the opportunity to once again play in the US, less than a year after our last game, is exciting for the All Blacks and for New Zealand Rugby. The US is an important market for us and for rugby more broadly, as we look ahead to the Rugby World Cup 2031.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will mark the fourth time the team has played in the US in five years, so it\u2019s great to be in another new city to show sports fans the spectacle and excitement of rugby.<\/p>\n
\u201cRugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry aims to be unlike any other, and playing in a city with the potential to form a part of the 2031 Rugby World Cup just adds another layer to this tour.<\/p>\n
We look forward to welcoming fans of the All Blacks and the haka in Baltimore in September.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Africa will play a test match against New Zealand in Baltimore, Maryland, in September as the battle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,11880,760,85],"class_list":["post-430430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-global-sports","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}