Springboks Fourth Test: South Africa Beat New Zealand 43-28
South Africa 43–28 New Zealand | M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore, 11 September 2026
This Springboks fourth test delivered exactly what Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry needed: a statement. South Africa closed out the series 3-1 with a six-try performance in front of the largest rugby union crowd the United States has ever seen.
FULL TIME — 11 September 2026: The Springboks fourth test was never going to be a dead rubber, and it did not play like one. South Africa closed out Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry with a 43-28 win over New Zealand at M&T Bank Stadium, the first time this fixture has been staged in the United States, and left with the series won 3-1.
Springboks Fourth Test: Six Tries, and a Statement
South Africa outscored New Zealand six tries to four, the most one-sided scoreline of a series that had been decided by fine margins in Cape Town and Johannesburg. The All Blacks pushed back more than once, but each New Zealand response was met with another Springbok try rather than a defensive stand — a pattern that had defined this South African side all series, only this time it never let New Zealand back into the contest for good. Where Cape Town and Johannesburg were won in the final quarter, Baltimore was won from the front, with South Africa’s forward pack setting a platform New Zealand could not answer for eighty minutes.
A Record Crowd, and a World Cup Audition
The match drew 68,173 fans to M&T Bank Stadium — the largest crowd any rugby union fixture has attracted on US soil. Baltimore is among the cities bidding to host matches at the 2031 Rugby World Cup, and the turnout was read across American and South African media alike as a live audition for that bid, on a night the sport needed one. For a fixture as storied as this one, staging it outside the traditional Test calendar and outside either country was itself the experiment — and a sold-out American stadium answered the question of whether the audience is there.
Springboks Fourth Test: How the Series Was Won
This victory completes a series South Africa did not start well. New Zealand won the opener at Ellis Park, and the Springboks needed a fourth-quarter comeback to level it in Cape Town (33-26) and another to edge Johannesburg (29-24) before Baltimore turned into a statement rather than another nervy finish. Three wins from the last three Tests, each one different in how it was won, is the mark Rassie Erasmus’s side leaves the series with.
For New Zealand, the tour ends with the same question it carried into Baltimore: a series lost 3-1 despite leading the head-to-head after the first Test, and a fourth quarter that South Africa answered every time it mattered. Dave Rennie’s side also finish the tour without captain Ardie Savea, ruled out after the shoulder injury he suffered in Johannesburg.
Both sides now turn to the rest of the international calendar with very different questions to answer. South Africa leave Baltimore with the series won and their forward pack in irresistible form, a platform Rassie Erasmus will look to carry into the remaining Tests of the year. New Zealand return home to work out why a team that led this series after the first Test could not close it out, with Savea’s absence adding urgency to their depth at loose forward before their next assignment.
For more on how this series unfolded, read our reports on the second Test in Cape Town and the third Test in Johannesburg. For the official squad and results, see SA Rugby’s Springboks site.
