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South Africa confirm home tests for 2022 - including All Blacks double

Faf de Klerk hoists a box kick for the Springboks. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

South Africa will host Wales for the first time since 2014 when the teams clash in three Tests before two home fixtures against New Zealand in the Rugby Championship pending COVID-19 travel restrictions.

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South African Rugby released the 2022 schedule of home matches on Tuesday, which includes Tests against Wales in Pretoria, Bloemfontein and Cape Town in July.

It will be Wales’ first trip to South Africa since 2014, when they lost 38-16 in Durban, before suffering a 31-30 defeat in Nelspruit.

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The massive ‘void’ in South African rugby.

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The massive ‘void’ in South African rugby.

Wales have won four of their last six Tests against the Springboks, but lost on all 10 occasions in South Africa.

With COVID-19 travel restrictions likely to still be in force later in the year, the Boks are hoping to play both Rugby Championships matches against the All Blacks at home – in Nelspruit on August 6 and Johannesburg a week later.

They will travel to Australia for two away games on August 27 and September 3, with the venues for those matches still to be revealed.

That will be followed by a trip to Buenos Aires to play Argentina before they return home and host the South Americans in Durban in their final Rugby Championship clash.

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SA Rugby CEO Jurie Roux said they were delighted with the schedule a year out from the defence of their World Cup title, but added COVID-19 continued to loom large over the plans.

South African government regulations currently limit the number of people allowed inside sporting venues to 2,000.

“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,” Roux said in a media release.

“But it is important for us that the team face quality opposition as we gear up to the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.”

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Tom 4 hours ago
Will Bristol's daredevil 'Bears-ball' deliver the trophy they crave?

Also a Bristol fan and echo your sentiments.


I love watching Bristol but their approach will only get them so far I think. Exeter played like this when they first got promoted to the prem and had intermittent success, it wasn't until they wised up and played a more balanced game that they became a consistently top side.


I really want Bristol to continue playing this brand of rugby and I don't mind them running it from under their posts but I don't think they need to do it every single time. They need to be just a little bit more selective about when and where on the pitch they play. Every game they put themselves under so much needless pressure by turning the ball over under their posts trying to do kamikaze moves when it's not required. By all means run it from your goal line if there is a chance for a counter attack, we all want to see Bristol running in 100m tries from under their posts but I think until they learn when to do it and when to be pragmatic, they are unlikely to win the premiership.


Defense has been a real positive from Bristol, they've shown a lot of improvement there... And I will say that I think this kamikaze strategy they employ is a very good one for a struggling side and could be employed by Newcastle. It's seems to have turned around Gloucester's fortunes. The big advantage is even if you don't have the biggest and best players, what you have is cohesion. This is why Scotland keep battering England. England have better individuals but they look muddled as a team, trying to play a mixed strategy under coaches who lack charisma, the team has no identity. Scotland come out and give it full throttle from 1-15 even if they struggle against the top sides, sides like England and Wales who lack that identity drown under the relentless will and synergy of the Scots. If Newcastle did the same they could really surprise some people, I know the weather is bad up there but it hasn't bothered the Scots. Bristol can learn from Scotland too, Pat is on to something when he says the following but Scotland don't play test matches like headless chickens. They still play with the same level of clarity and ambition Bristol do but they are much better at picking their moments. They needed to go back to this mad game to get their cohesion back after a couple of seasons struggling but I hope they get a bit wiser from matches like Leinster and La Rochelle.


“If there’s clarity on what you’re trying to do as a team you can win anything.”

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LONG READ Does the next Wallabies coach have to be an Australian? Does the next Wallabies coach have to be an Australian?
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