Trophy unveiled for Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry between Springboks and All Blacks

The trophy for Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series between the Springboks and All Blacks was unveiled in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

South Africa and New Zealand will battle each other in four Tests, starting at Ellis Park on Saturday. The second Test is at Cape Town Stadium on 29 August, followed by a Test at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg (5 September) and a final one in Baltimore in the United States (12 September).

“The concept was developed exclusively for the revival of rugby tours between the nations, to capture a simple truth: that as distinct and proud as are the two rugby cultures, each is inexorably drawn to the other as two halves of the greatest rivalry,” SA Rugby said in a statement.

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The trophy features two halves and the series winners will receive both halves. In case of a drawn series, each nation will retain one half of the trophy.

The creation was publicly brought together for the first time by the captains of the 1996 series - Gary Teichmann (Springboks) and Sean Fitzpatrick (All Blacks) - at an official unveiling. The All Blacks won the 1996 series 2-1 to record their first-ever series triumph on these shores. The Springboks had won a series 2-1 in New Zealand in 1937.

“The brief to the agencies was to create a trophy that was really like no other, and one to capture the essence of the rivalry,” said Rian Oberholzer, CEO of SA Rugby.

“The thinking included the idea that the trophy could be split in two to represent the two halves of the rivalry or that each nation could keep one half if the series was shared.

“This is the eighth time in 12 tours that the series has included four Tests, and if each team has won two