Boks return to the highveld and Durban in 2022 schedule

The 2022 home international season will see the Springboks play big matches at traditional test venues like Emirates Airlines Park, Loftus and Hollywoodbets Kings Park for the first time since before the 2019 Rugby World Cup and the arrival of the pandemic the following year.

Covid forced the Boks to play all three of their matches against the British and Irish Lions behind closed doors at Cape Town International Stadium (now DHL Stadium) and their two home Castle Lager Rugby Championship fixtures against Argentina were played in Gqeberha. The only international match featuring the Boks on the highveld was the warm-up game ahead of the Lions series against Georgia.

The scheduled home Championship games against New Zealand were moved to Australia and the year before that of course there was no international rugby due to the different waves of Covid-19 hitting the country, so this year will see Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban welcoming back big international rugby for the first time in three years, while Bloemfontein will also host the middle game of the Castle Lager Incoming Tour Series against Wales in July.

Nelspruit, which was due to host the All Blacks at Mbombela Stadium in 2021, will get a chance to do so in 2022, with the first of two big back to back tests on South African soil against the Boks’ arch-rivals scheduled for 6 August before they travel up to Johannesburg and Emirates Airlines Park the following week.

The two games against the All Blacks come at the start of the Rugby Championship this year, which is a departure for what was the norm for most of the Rugby Championship and Tri-Nations era, when the Kiwis came to the country at the end of the competition. Instead the Argentina Pumas, normally early visitors to South Africa, will bring the curtain down on the home international season when they play the Boks at Kings Park on 24 September.

The international season starts on 2 July, when the Boks play the first of three tests against Wales. The series then proceeds down the N1 highway to Bloemfontein’s Toyota Stadium before being concluded in Cape Town on 16 July.

One noteworthy and perhaps worrying feature of the fixture list is that the bulk of the Rugby Championship coincides with what should be the off-season for South African rugby now that the country is participating in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship and aligned to the northern season. When are the Boks going to get a break? That has been a vexing question for some time.

According to an SA Rugby press release, the away leg of the Castle Lager Rugby Championship will comprise of three test matches – two against Australia, and one against Argentina in Buenos Aires.

Wales are set to return to South Africa for the first time since 2014. The two nations have met almost every year in the interim, and twice in Rugby World Cup knock-out games, but all those games have been overseas, with one being an exhibition game in Washington at the start of Rassie Erasmus’ successful stint as Bok coach in 2018. South African fans will be hoping that playing at home in South Africa, where the Welsh have never won, will restore the old order of things when it comes to games between the Boks and Wales.

It is not known at this stage how many fans will be permitted into stadiums and it will depend on the pandemic, but it is understood that stadiums will be operating on 50 per cent capacity by the end of this month so everything is starting to look a lot more hopeful that we could have a proper test match atmosphere when the Boks play at home.

“It’s exciting to announce such a strong list of Springbok fixtures this season after a successful 2021 season for the team, and I have no doubt that Jacques Nienaber (Springbok coach), his management team and the players will do their best to build on those achievements this season,” said SA Rugby CEO Jurie Roux.

“Pending the return of crowds to our tests and with the Covid-19 pandemic still presenting challenges throughout the world, we understand the fluid nature of match schedules, but it is important for us that the team face quality opposition as we gear up to the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.”

Nienaber was equally excited about the season and said: “It’s a massive honour to represent our country, and the fact that we will be facing such tough competition this season has certainly sparked excitement among the coaches and the players alike.

“We are well underway with our planning for the year, and our knowledge of these teams after facing all of them last season will be vital as we forge ahead in this regard in the next few months.

“Wales, the All Blacks and Australia tested us well last season, and Argentina have proven to be a force to be reckoned with, both at home and away, so although we are expecting a challenging season, we realise the importance of laying a solid foundation as we build up toward next year’s Rugby World Cup.”

Castle Lager Incoming Series fixtures (kick-off times TBC):

Saturday, 2 July: Springboks v Wales – Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Saturday, 9 July: Springboks v Wales – Toyota Stadium, Bloemfontein
Saturday, 16 July: Springboks v Wales – DHL Stadium, Cape Town

Castle Lager Rugby Championship fixtures (kick-off times TBC):

Saturday, 6 August: Springboks v New Zealand – Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit
Saturday, 13 August: Springboks v New Zealand – Emirates Airline Park, Johannesburg
Saturday, 27 August: Springboks v Australia – venue TBC
Saturday, 3 September: Springboks v Australia – venue TBC
Saturday, 17 September: Springboks v Argentina – Vélez Sarsfield, Buenos Aires
Saturday, 24 September: Springboks v Argentina – Hollywoodbets Kings Park, Durban