When do the Springboks play again?

The Springboks have contended with a gruelling 2026 season that has seen them navigate three Tests in July, two one-off Tests against Argentina and Australia, as well as the four-Test series against New Zealand.

There is now a period during the month of October when the Springboks won’t be in action, but several players will return to their clubs and could be seen featuring in the URC before the end-of-year tour gets underway.

Four Tests in November will form of the conclusion to the Nations Championship tournament, which will see them face Italy, France and Ireland as well as one final opponent at the end of November.

For the Nations Championship, across the six pool-stage matches in July and November, teams from the southern and northern hemisphere will continue to compete against each other. Points earned from those matches determine a final one to six ranking for each hemisphere’s table, and the finals weekend pairs each team against their direct equivalent rank from the opposite conference.

So, during the finals weekend, teams play a seventh and final match against their exact equivalent seed from the opposite hemisphere (e.g. sixth vs sixth, fifth vs fifth, down to the first vs first Grand Final).

Springboks’ end-of-year fixtures

• Saturday 7 November:

  Italy v Boks

  • Venue:

    Allianz Stadium, Turin

  • Kick off:

    16:00

• Friday 13 November:

  France v Boks

  • Venue:

    Stade de France, Paris

  • Kick off:

    22:00

• Saturday 21 November:

  Ireland v Boks

  • Venue:

    Aviva Stadium, Dublin

  • Kick off:

    19:30

• 27–29 November:

  Finals Weekend

  • Venue:

    Twickenham Stadium, London

  • Kick off:

    TBC

TIME FOR INTROSPECTION

Although the Springboks have enjoyed a largely successful season, this past weekend’s defeat to the Wallabies was another humbling wake-up call regardless of the fact that several first-choice players were being rested.

Asked how valuable this experience was for the team ahead of next year’s Rugby World Cup in Australia, Erasmus said: “Australia are a good team and they’ve definitely improved a lot. They played at home and they’re the World Cup hosts next year.

“We might meet them in a vital playoff game, and it was nice to get a taste of them tonight. When we play them next year, we’ll know a little bit more about each other. I’m not going to say it was a case of lessons learned, but I think it was a valuable experience.”

Captain Andre Esterhuizen was equally disappointed with the result: “It was pretty intense. At one stage, we were concentrating on getting one try, then getting another, and taking it step by step. But like we said, we should never have been in that situation.

“We put ourselves there. I think the fans and people watching the game really enjoyed it, but we should be better and not get into such situations.”