Boks’ World Cup title defence will blast off in Adelaide

The Springboks can start planning to ensure their logistical preparations are spot-on after rugby bosses announced the three venues where the world champions will play their pool matches at the 2027 World Cup in Australia, says coach Rassie Erasmus.

It has been decided the Springboks will kick off their title defence against Italy in Adelaide on October 3, before heading to Brisbane and Perth to face Georgia and Romania in their two remaining pool matches.

The new format will see a round of 16 playing out on the weekend of October 23 and 24, with the quarterfinals set to be hosted a week later on October 30 and 31 in Sydney and Brisbane.

The semifinals are on November 5 and 6, and the final is on Saturday November 13, all at Stadium Australia in Sydney.

“It’s pleasing that we now know where and when we are playing, and we are fortunate we have played in Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and Sydney in the past few years in the Rugby Championship,” Erasmus said.

“We can go full steam ahead with our planning and preparation for the tournament, and we will leave no stone unturned in ensuring we are as fresh and well prepared as possible for the competition.

“Our operations and logistics team will start getting into the finer details of the travel in the coming weeks, with our pool matches being hosted in different cities.

“The coaches and high-performance staff will start having in-depth discussions about how to manage the players during the tournament to get the best out of them on the field.

“The one thing that pops out looking at the schedule is, should we progress to the playoffs, there will be travel between the round of 16 and the quarterfinal, which is something we have to factor into our planning as the flight is just under five hours between Perth and Sydney, and there is a two-hour time difference.

There’s a lot of hard work ahead in the next 18 months but we are all very excited for the tournament and we are looking forward to putting the building blocks in place this season and next year before we depart for Australia

—  Rassie Erasmus, Springok coach

“Over and above that, our likely opponents could be either Australia or New Zealand, and it would be good to see their travel schedules. But obviously we have to make it through first, which will require a huge effort.

“There’s a lot of hard work ahead in the next 18 months but we are all very excited and we are looking forward to putting the building blocks in place this season and next year before we depart for Australia.”

The Boks are hoping to secure a warm-up match in June before launching their 2026 season in July with clashes against England in Johannesburg (July 4), Scotland in Pretoria (July 11), and Wales in Durban (July 18) as part of the new Nations Championship.

They will then meet the All Blacks in four Tests in the inaugural Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series in August and September, which includes two matches in Johannesburg and one each in Cape Town and Baltimore in the US.

This will be followed by an away Test against the Wallabies in Australia (September 27), with the venue to be confirmed, before the second leg of the Nations Championship in Europe at the end of the year, which will feature matches against Italy (November 7), France (November 14) and Ireland (November 21).

Springbok World Cup 2027 fixtures

• Pool stage:
• October 3 (5.45am SA time): SA vs Italy (Adelaide Oval);
• October 10 (8.45am SA time): SA vs Georgia (Brisbane Stadium);
• October 17 (1.15pm SA time): SA vs Romania (Perth Stadium)
• Round of 16: October 23 and 24 (Perth Stadium/Docklands Stadium, Melbourne)
• Quarterfinals: October 30 and 31 (Stadium Australia, Sydney/Brisbane Stadium)
• Semifinals: November 5 and 6: Stadium Australia, Sydney
• Final: November 13 (11am SA time), Stadium Australia, Sydney