Boks v All Blacks: How to determine a winner if four-Test series is a draw

Since it was announced that Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour between the Springboks and All Blacks would be a four-Test series, there has been a fear that it could finish drawn at two-all and without a clear winner.

However, Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus confirmed that there have been discussions between SA Rugby and New Zealand Rugby to see if a winner can be decided.

In 2024 when Ireland toured South Africa for a two-Test series, and it ended one-all, many people were disappointed that there wasn’t a third match decider, and that could end up being the case again.

But Erasmus said that it would be interesting to see if they could find a way to separate the teams in some way, if the eagerly anticipated tour is split down the middle.

“There have been talks about it (deciding a winner) between us and them. We would like to say, ‘listen, we’ve split it two-two, let’s find a way to determine a winner.’ It would be a nice change, but that hasn’t been decided yet,” said Erasmus.

Some of the ways they could look at separating the teams is to have a similar structure to the Rugby Championship, where each team is awarded four points for a win, and you can get a bonus point for scoring three tries or more than the other.

If points from the four games are still level at that stage they could then look at points difference and tries scored to split the teams, although that would be an admittedly unsatisfying way to decide a winner.

Tour matches

In all, the tour will see the All Blacks play eight matches in South Africa – four against SA’s top franchises, namely the Stormers, Bulls, Sharks and Lions, and then the four Tests against the Springboks.

Three of those Tests will be in South Africa, at Ellis Park, the Cape Town Stadium and at FNB Stadium in Soweto, while the final match will be played at a neutral venue, which was announced last week to be Ravens Stadium, in Baltimore, USA.

“I think the purists will say that we are taking the game to another country when South Africa deserve a fourth game. But then again, the World Cup is going there (in 2031), and it is important to grow the game there,” explained Erasmus.

“Ireland and New Zealand (in Chicago last year) was pretty successful and there was a decent crowd and support for them there.

“For us it’s exciting. We understand that there are people who are unhappy with it. But for us it is another experience of playing in a neutral venue. We lost against Wales in Washington. We have beaten Argentina and the All Blacks at Twickenham, and we feel those games have all been successful.”