Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Still no All Blacks for Newlands with Ireland to visit in June
CAPE TOWN has again been overlooked for a rugby Test match featuring the All Blacks next year.
The Springboks will take on the world champions at Durban’s Kings Park on October 8 in the Rugby Championship, while Newlands will only host the Test against the Six Nations champions, Ireland, on June 11.
Cape Town, where the New Zealand rugby team enjoy plenty of support, hasn’t hosted an All Black Test since 2008. It was Stormers and Springbok legend Percy Montgomery’s 100th Test for South Africa, but the Boks lost 19-0 against their bitter rivals on that day in the Tri-Nations.
The All Blacks played the Boks in Bloemfontein and Durban in 2009, at the FNB Stadium in 2010, in Port Elizabeth in 2011 and again in Johannesburg from 2011 until this year.
Ireland will play a three-Test series against the Boks in Cape Town, Johannesburg and PE in June next year.
Rugby World Cup finalists Australia will return to Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, while their semi- final opponents, Argentina, will face the Boks in Nelspruit in the opening round of the Rugby Championship on August 20.
Meanwhile, SARU also announced that the final General Council meeting of 2015 has been postponed by a week to December 11. It will be proceeded by a meeting of the Executive Council on December 9. Springbok home fixtures in 2016 Incoming Series v Ireland June 11: South Africa v Ireland, Newlands, Cape Town June 18: South Africa v Ireland, Ellis Park, Johannesburg June 25: South Africa v Ireland, Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth Rugby Championship (home fixtures) August 20: South Africa v Argentina, Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit October 1: South Africa v Australia, Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria October 8: South Africa v New Zealand, Kings Park, Durban