The next five years – a blast from the past and a brave new era
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By Benji Crossley
As one Lions tour comes to an end it’s custom that we all begin to look four years ahead to the next tour, this time to New Zealand in 2029. British journalists are picking first test squads for four years time and identifying “four players who could take down the All Blacks”. It’s just what we all like to do, and the Lions are absolute content fodder so you love to see it.
But in a New Zealand context, this upcoming four year cycle (plus a bit at the end) is a cycle like we’ve never seen before. A blast from the past as well as new competitions and structures that will keep us all on our toes and wondering just what’s next. Breaking it down year by year, lets look at the NZ rugby calendar through to 2030.
2026
1) The first version of the Nations Cup (or whatever they decide to call it). The theory being the All Blacks will play three Northern Hemisphere teams here in July, then play three different ones in Europe in November before a potential final in London the last week of November. Exact details on who we are playing where and when are yet to be released but a report out of Europe yesterday has Ireland here in July for one test. England’s leaked schedule suggests we’ll see them in Europe in November which would leave two of Wales/Scotland/Italy/France D coming here in July.
2) A TOUR OF SOUTH AFRICA!!!!! – although yet to be confirmed publicly it seems a lock that the All Blacks will undertake a full tour of South Africa – three tests (with some suggesting a fourth at a neutral venue as well), midweeks games etc etc. Quite literally a return to the good old days. What this means for the Rugby Championship in 2026 is yet to be confirmed but this will have rugby fans of a certain vintage absolutely fizzing. Right now, winning that series would be a bigger achievement than winning the shiny gold trophy in Australia the year after. Let’s just ignore the fact that Razor will probably take 65 players and decimate the NPC for the moment.
2027
1) It’s a RWC year, so will be reasonably traditional in terms of All Black footy. No incoming tour in July, a slimmed down Rugby Championship with an extra Bledisloe thrown in. Given our proximity to Australia, maybe we can convince some teams to come down here and play the Māori All Blacks or All Blacks XV as a warm up and give NZR the chance to take its “Teams in Black” to the regions.
2) A Lions tour – it’s this bit that gives 2027 that extra bit of intrigue. Announced in midst of COVID, and thus feeling like a million years ago, a full Women’s Lions tour will descend on New Zealand in 2027. We don’t have detail yet but it seems likely we’ll see three Black Ferns v Engl… sorry the Lions test matches and then a full suite of tour games. Presumably the four Aupiki teams all get a crack at the tourists along with a Black Ferns XV game, or potentially this is the chance to launch a Maori Black Ferns side. Hopefully NZR take the chance to spread this tour around the country, one game at Eden Park might be able to justified but if we see more than one we should all riot.
2028
1) Version two of the Nations Cup. Basically the same as what we’ll see next year I guess, although presumably they’ll reverse the fixtures? All seems a bit boring really but the cash money will apparently make it all worth it.
2) A “normal” Rugby Championship? By this time, it will be three years since the last full scale version of the Rugby Championship. Might we all be craving it by then? Will absence make the heart grow fonder?
2029
1) The Lions in NZ – we all know the deal with a Lions tour, three tests, probably at least six tour games, hordes of red clad boomers descending, campervans filling our streets. Great times. The interesting thing about this tour will be the NZR/All Black attitude to the tour games. In 2017 you could make a good case that the Super Rugby sides performed better against the Lions than the All Blacks did and for the credibility of the tour similar performances again in 2029 will be vital. But their ability to compete will in a large part be dictated by the All Black attitude to releasing players.
2030
1) A SPRINGBOK TOUR OF NEW ZEALAND!!!! – only because the highlights have popped up on my social feed recently but I was reminded of being taken out of school at lunchtime on a Wednesday afternoon in 1994 (I was eight) to go and watch the Springboks take on the Bay of Plenty at a sodden Rotorua International Stadium. Well in 2030, I might have the opportunity to do the same for my kids. But it will probably be a night game, it almost certainly won’t be in Rotorua, and it almost certainly won’t be the Bay of Plenty the Springboks play. But apart from all those key details, it will be just the same. A mirror of the Lions tour seems likely, three tests plus some midweek games with the Super teams and the Maori all being given a crack. Will the first team to beat the Boks get a Springbok head? Oh the memories.
It should be made clear that a lot of this is unconfirmed but it seems like the week leading up to the Eden Park test this year would be a sensible time to announce the two Springbok/All Black tours so we should know more later this year.
What we do know is that the next five years will be unlike anything we have seen since the game went professional. New competitions, old school tours, new representative teams perhaps? My one plea to the powers at NZR would be to take a truly holistic approach to the three incoming tours we have. Sure, all three teams (being Lions x 2 and the Boks) may all play the same teams but if we play all those games at the same venues we will have missed a massive opportunity. New Plymouth, Nelson, Whangarei, Rotorua, Napier, Invercagill etc all have stadiums capable of holding good crowds and would be perfect for tour games. The NPC shows that the regions are craving top level rugby and frankly that our big centers are probably tapped out. Bring the game to the people and let the regions embrace the “Teams in Black” and our tourists.
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