Springboks Second Test: South Africa Beat New Zealand 33-26
South Africa 33–26 New Zealand | Cape Town Stadium, 29 August 2026
Series level 1-1. Two tests remain: FNB Stadium on 5 September, Baltimore on 12 September.
FULL TIME — 29 August 2026: The Springboks second test delivered the response Rassie Erasmus promised. South Africa beat New Zealand 33-26 at Cape Town Stadium to level Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry at 1-1, and for an hour it looked comfortable. Three first-half tries put the Boks 24-14 up at the break, and they stretched the lead to 30-14 before the All Blacks came back.
New Zealand scored twice in the final fourteen minutes and finished the night having outscored South Africa four tries to three — the second consecutive test in which the All Blacks won the try count. But the Springboks held on, and the series that looked like it might be gone after Ellis Park is alive going to Johannesburg.
The selection calls held up. Handré Pollard started at fly-half with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu on the bench, Cobus Reinach came in at scrum-half, and Pieter-Steph du Toit captained South Africa in his 100th Test appearance. Erasmus had said the side would lay low and work hard. They did both.
The Springboks second test against New Zealand on 29 August at Cape Town Stadium is now the most important match of South Africa’s year. After a 33-16 defeat at Ellis Park that Rassie Erasmus described in blunt terms — “we got a hiding” — the world champions must win to keep a four-test series alive. Erasmus has responded with four changes, one significant demotion, and the return of a World Cup-winning fly-half.
Erasmus: “We Knew What We Had to Do. We Didn’t Do It.”
What made the post-match reaction unusual was the absence of spin. Erasmus refused the standard coaching line about learning and improving. “I’m not going to butter it up with that cliche and say we’re going to learn from this and get better,” he said. “We didn’t need to learn from this; we knew what we had to do on the day — we didn’t do it.”
He was equally direct about being tactically beaten. New Zealand, he acknowledged, arrived with a plan he had not fully countered: “They had a very clever tactic, again — 100% legal — they were stripping in the tackle.” Contesting possession at the point of contact, rather than committing bodies to the breakdown, repeatedly turned South African carries into New Zealand ball. For a coach whose reputation rests on out-preparing opponents, admitting he was out-thought is not a small thing.
His conclusion was a retreat inward: “We got a hiding today, so there will naturally be critics out there, and we will lay low, not read the papers and work hard.”
The Changes for the Springboks Second Test
Erasmus has made up to four changes to the starting XV. Some are forced, one is a clear selection call:
- Handré Pollard replaces Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu at fly-half. The most consequential decision of the week. Feinberg-Mngomezulu, rated the world’s best player by some outlets in 2025, has been dropped after Ellis Park. Pollard offers control, goal-kicking and two World Cup finals of composure.
- Cobus Reinach starts at scrum-half. Grant Williams is out injured.
- Ethan Hooker replaces Cheslin Kolbe on the wing. Kolbe picked up a niggle in the first test.
- Siya Kolisi is bracketed with Paul de Villiers at flanker. If the captain trains fully this week, he starts alongside Pieter-Steph du Toit and Jasper Wiese.
Two milestones sit inside the Springboks second test team sheet. Pieter-Steph du Toit retains the captaincy in his 100th appearance for South Africa, and prop Ox Nché reaches 50 caps.
Why Dropping Feinberg-Mngomezulu Matters
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is the most exciting attacking talent South Africa has produced in a decade, and one of only two players retained from the side that beat Argentina on 8 August. Removing him after a single poor result is the kind of decision that defines a series. Pollard is the safer option: less unpredictable, far more reliable off the tee, and the man who kicked South Africa to two World Cups.
The read is straightforward. Erasmus has decided the Springboks second test is not the moment for expansive risk. It is a match to be won through territory, set piece and pressure — the template that has served South Africa for eight years. Argentina supporters will recognise the pattern: it is exactly the game Los Pumas faced on 8 August, when the Springboks ground out a 17-10 win in Buenos Aires. Read our piece on where Argentina fits into Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry for that context.
New Zealand Expect a Springboks Second Test Backlash
Dave Rennie has been careful all week not to treat Ellis Park as settled going into the Springboks second test. The All Blacks coach, two months into the job and unbeaten so far, has publicly warned his squad that a wounded Springbok side in Cape Town is a different proposition from the one they beat in Johannesburg. New Zealand won that match with five tries to one, Will Jordan crossing twice, and a bench front row that turned the scrum in the final quarter. Full details are in our report on the first test.
South Africa also finished that game with thirteen men after yellow cards for Marco van Staden and Cobus Reinach in the closing ten minutes. Discipline, as much as tactics, is what Erasmus has spent the week addressing.
What a Second Defeat Would Mean
The Freedom Cup is decided across all four tests, and the Springboks second test is where it is most likely to be lost. Lose in Cape Town and South Africa go 2-0 down with matches remaining at FNB Stadium on 5 September and in Baltimore on 12 September — meaning the cup would effectively be gone before the series reaches the United States, and the showpiece American fixture would be a dead rubber. That is a commercial problem as well as a sporting one.
There is a ranking dimension too. According to World Rugby, South Africa lead the standings on 93.96 points with New Zealand second on 92.28. A second All Black win would put that top position under serious threat with fourteen months until the 2027 World Cup — where seeding decides which side of the draw each nation lands on.
How to Watch
The Springboks second test kicks off at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday 29 August. 🇬🇧 UK: Sky Sports. 🇺🇸 USA: RugbyPass TV, free to air. 🇿🇦 South Africa: SuperSport. 🇦🇺 Australia: Stan Sport. 🇳🇿 New Zealand: Sky Sport, with free-to-air delayed coverage on Three.
The same afternoon, Argentina host Australia in Jujuy. It is the busiest Saturday of the southern hemisphere season.
Watch the Series
📺 Amazon Fire TV Stick — stream every test of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry.
📖 Springboks books on Amazon UK — the story of how South Africa built the most successful era in their history.
