The Springbok Women will host their counterparts from the USA in a historic two-Test series in July in Johannesburg and Pretoria, where they will open the days’ action when the Springboks kick off their Nations Championship campaign.
The two Tests, at Ellis Park (Saturday, 4 July) and Loftus Versfeld (Saturday, 11 July), will form part of double headers when the Boks host England in Johannesburg and Scotland in Pretoria.
The Bok Women and USA have never met in South Africa before. Their last encounter was in March 2024, when the USA won 38-17 at the Ealing Trailfinders Sports Grounds in London.
This news follows another breakthrough announcement last month that the Springbok Women will also be playing the Black Ferns of New Zealand as part of a double header at the third Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Test at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg on 4 September, in what is yet another first clash on home soil.
Springbok Women head coach Swys de Bruin welcomed the confirmation of the USA fixtures as a big boost for the squad.
“Not only will we play two double headers with the Springboks, which is already massive for us, but it falls in line with our objective to play as many top ten teams as possible in the new World Cup cycle,” said De Bruin.
“Our ambitions for the next Women’s Rugby World Cup in Australia are well documented by now, and these two Tests will be a brilliant start towards that goal.
“The USA play in the Pacific Four Series every year, exposing them to the high intensity rugby of opponents Canada, New Zealand and Australia, a luxury we did not have in previous years. But thanks to World Rugby’s new format of the top 12 ranked sides playing each other and SA Rugby’s commitment to make these happen, these objectives can now become a reality.”
The USA Eagles Women General Manager of High Performance, Tamara Sheppard, was equally pleased about the fixtures.
“Touring South Africa is a great opportunity for us to keep growing and developing against a Rugby World Cup quarter-final team,” said Sheppard.
“We’re excited to embrace the challenge to play in front of some of the passionate rugby fans in the world, and it will be an incredible experience for this developing Eagles group to test ourselves across the two test matches.”
The USA Women Eagles are ranked eighth in the world, while the Springbok Women are at an all-time high of 10th, following the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup in England, where South Africa reached the quarter-finals for the first time.
The Bok Women were knocked out by New Zealand, while the USA bowed out at the same stage after a defeat to Canada, the eventual runners-up.
SA Rugby also confirmed two matches between the U20 sides of the two countries. The Junior Springbok Women will play their USA counterparts on 18 and 25 July in the Cape Town region. The Americans will be based at the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport for the duration of their tour.
Winter Underdog
Cricket became an Olympic sport in 1896. However, no matches were held because there was an insufficient number of teams who attended. Had the sport been played that year, cricket would have earned the distinction of being the only team sport to be played at the time. The first Olympic match in the next Olympics (1900) was participated in by the men’s teams. Great Britain (represented by the Devon and Somerset Wanderers) won gold.
3P-Own
Rugby first appeared at the Olympics 1900 – Interestingly, rugby first appeared as an Olympic sport in 1900 when the games were held in Paris. Since then, it’s appeared intermittently until its formal reintroduction at the Rio De Janeiro Games 2016, with both a male and female 7’s tournament played. At those games, Fiji won the men’s tournament winning their first ever Olympic medal in the country’s history.