Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Tour: Stormers vs New Zealand Preview and Prediction

It’s a much-anticipated matter of going back to the future as the inaugural Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour gets underway with a clash between the Stormers and the All Blacks in Cape Town on Friday night (19:00 kick-off), writes Quintin van Jaarsveld.

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Old-school is cool, and a generation of rugby fans will find that out during this, New Zealand’s first traditional tour in 30 years. The Kiwis will play all four of Mzansi’s United Rugby Championship teams and three Tests against the Springboks on South African soil, with a fourth Test to be played in America.

The All Blacks have toured South Africa in a traditional sense just six times, and won all but the final match on their last full-fledged tour in 1996.

Dave Rennie and his troops are hell-bent on hitting the ground running and setting the tone for their 2026 South African safari at DHL Stadium, where they’ll enjoy support not only from their travelling fans, but also their locally based fans known as the Cape Crusaders.

For the local URC franchises, the timing of the tour, which comes almost seven weeks before the start of the new URC season, is not ideal. In fact, John Dobson called it “terrible”, but the Stormers coach acknowledged what a special opportunity it is for his players to front the Haka and face the country’s arch-rivals.

“It’s a terrible time for us to play in terms of player welfare, resting the guys, preparing for the URC,” Dobson told SA Rugby Magazine. He added, though, “We can actually make it work. This is just too lekker. It’s something the players dream of. We’re going all in to make Cape Town proud and provide a lekker once-off rugby occasion.”

It certainly promises to be a lekker game as the All Blacks will stick to the high-octane, attack-orientated style they’re known for and the Stormers will be willing to fight fire with fire in a Super Rugby-esque shootout.

With nothing to lose, the Stormers will welcome a battle of flair and get the first crack at making history by becoming the first South African provincial team to beat the All Blacks since Orange Free State, now known as the Cheetahs, secured a famous 15-10 victory over the vaunted tourists back in 1976.

This will be the first time the Capetonians play the Kiwis under their Stormers name, but the history between the union and the New Zealanders dates all the way back to 1928, when Western Province lost the inaugural meeting 15-3 before bouncing back with a historic 11-3 victory.

They had to wait until 1970 to lock horns again with the All Blacks running out 29-6 winners, before the last and most historically significant match between the sides six years later saw Western Province pull off a comeback for the ages to pip a mighty All Blacks side who had won their previous 28 matches.

Captained and coached by legendary Springbok skipper Morne du Plessis, Western Province rallied from 11-0 down with 19 minutes to go in front of a crowd of over 45 000 fans at Newlands. Centre Bossie Clarke and wing Chris Pope crossed for tries, with flyhalf Robbie Blair – who’d missed eight penalty kicks at goal – slotting the two conversions to complete the famous fightback.

Unfortunately for South African rugby lovers, especially those in the Mother City, a repeat of such a stunning upset seems nigh-impossible under the Friday night lights. Instead, the home team will have their moments and play their part in an entertaining encounter, one that’ll be easily won by the men in black.

Prediction: New Zealand by 30.