Zealand

Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry – Fourth Test

South Africa (17) 43

Tries: de Allende (2), van den Berg, PS du Toit, Arendse, Hanekom Cons: Feinberg-Mngomezulu (2), van den Berg, Libbok (2) Pens: Feinberg-Mngomezulu

New Zealand (14) 28

Tries: Taylor, Jordan, Blackadder, B Barrett Cons: McKenzie (4)

South Africa completed a 3-1 series win over New Zealand as the world champions’ consistency, power and cohesion once again proved too much in the fourth Test in Baltimore.

After victory in the series opener in Johannesburg last month, the All Blacks jumped to the top of the world rankings and threatened to shake up rugby’s world order.

However, South Africa clawed their way back to triumph – just as their director of rugby Rassie Erasmus had predicted.

While New Zealand were spirited and skilful in pursuit of a win to square the series, the Springboks’ go-forward up front and the depth of their bench kept the All Blacks at bay.

The match played out in front of a near-capacity crowd of 68,173 at the M&T Bank Stadium, the largest-ever crowd to watch a rugby match in the USA.

A successful stateside excursion completes a series that has been compelling viewing and stress-tested both sides’ aspirations of lifting the Rugby World Cup next year – the two nations have won the past five editions of the tournament.

It was New Zealand who started fastest in Maryland on Saturday.

Eight minutes in, their breathtakingly quick tiki-taka catch-pass, with the backline holding their depth, outflanked South Africa’s blitz defence to set up the first try of the match for hooker Codie Taylor.

However, the Springboks’ brute strength in the close quarters meant they could collect points without needing to resort to such high-risk passages of play.

With their forward pack on top in the scrum and winning collisions, Damian de Allende burrowed over from short range, before scrum-half Morne van den Berg flashed a dummy and darted past Sam Darry for a similar score.

Those tries opened up a 17-7 lead for the Springboks. With Eben Etzebeth crunching returning New Zealand fly-half Richie Mo’unga in the tackle and Jasper Wiese stampeding around in the loose, the Boks seemed poised to stretch away and out of sight.

Fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who had pushed a long-range penalty to the right of the uprights early on, missed a drop-goal shot. An overcooked attempt to find the corner also cost his team.

New Zealand’s combination of hard toil and sparkling hands then bought them a way back into the game just before half-time.

Will Jordan, his nation’s all-time leading try-scorer, streaked off his wing on a superb line to dunk down over the line at the end of 32 draining phases.

Four points down at the break, Dave Rennie’s side had hopes of taking home half of a specially-designed series trophy, which, held together by magnets, can be shared between the two sides.

But South Africa ensured that innovation went unused.

Malcolm Marx trundled over at the back of a rolling maul after the interval and, three minutes later, Pieter-Steph du Toit barged over after a sharp blindside break by the impressive Van den Berg.

Ethan Blackadder’s score in the final quarter cut the Boks’ lead to eight points, but South Africa hit the accelerator once again as the toll taken by a high-paced match and a long tour caught up on both teams and space opened up.

Kurt-Lee Arendse sliced through open field after Damian McKenzie had broken through in the opposite direction, but Josh Moorby failed to gather his pass.

Four minutes later, Cameron Hanekom scooped up scrappy ball to put the result beyond doubt and render replacement Beauden Barrett’s late try only a footnote.

South Africa: Willemse; Arendse, Kriel, de Allende, Hooker; Feinberg-Mngomezulu, van den Berg; Nche, Marx, Louw, Etzebeth, Nortje, Kolisi, du Toit, Wiese

Replacements: Fourie, Steenekamp, du Toit, de Jager, Esterhuizen, Hanekom, Reinach, Libbok

New Zealand: McKenzie; Jordan, Lienert-Brown, Barrett, Moorby; Mo’unga, Roigard; de Groot, Taylor, Newell, Tuipulotu, Darry, Vaa’i, Blackadder, Lakai

Aumua, Numia, Lomax, Lord, Sititi, Preston, Ioane, Barrett

Referee: Karl Dickson (England)

Assistant referees: Matthew Carley (England), Christophe Ridley (England)

TMO: Andrew Jackson (England)

One point.

That is what separated South Africa and New Zealand in the 2023 Rugby World Cup final, as the Springboks went back-to-back to become the first nation to win the tournament four times.

Rassie Erasmus’ world champions sit top of the rankings and have also won back-to-back Rugby Championships. They are indisputably the game’s dominant force.

Their predecessors as rugby union’s supreme team were the All Blacks, who won their own back-to-back World Cups, in 2011 and 2015.

The landscape may have changed and their roles may have reversed of late, but they remain the game’s most glamourous and marketable teams.

And now they are poised to begin that most rare of modern phenomenons – a multi-week tour that includes a proper Test series.

This year’s Rugby Championship – the southern hemisphere’s premier international competition – has been cancelled to make room for the All Blacks’ tour of South Africa, leaving Australia and Argentina to arrange their own fixtures.

The first Test is on Saturday, when Dave Rennie – just three Tests into his reign as New Zealand coach – takes his side into the first of three Tests in South Africa as part of what has been dubbed the ‘Greatest Rivalry’ tour.

A fourth game – not part of the official series – will also be played in Baltimore, marking the first Test between the two long-time rivals on American soil.

Within an increasingly competitive sporting landscape, BBC Sport looks at why the tour is happening and what it could mean for the future of international rugby union.

Oceania have offered support to Gianni Infantino, but New Zealand have gone against their own confederation in FIFA row.

New Zealand has become the latest nation to withdraw its support for FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s re-election bid over his aborted commercial rights stake sale plan, while Oceania’s confederation cautiously backed the ⁠governing body’s leadership.

Infantino has faced open revolt after three confederations – Europe’s UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF (North and Central America and Caribbean) – called for a review of his leadership and attacked his conduct over the plan to bring private investment into FIFA competitions.

Infantino will seek re-election for a fourth term in ⁠charge of the global governing body at the FIFA Congress next year, with the African and South American confederations declaring their continued support.

New Zealand, the only Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) nation to qualify for this year’s World Cup, said on Friday it had withdrawn support for Infantino and that the review of the stake sale proposal should be independent due to a loss of confidence and trust in FIFA’s leadership.

“We’ve called for an independent review specifically because what we don’t ‌want to see is a sort of in-house quick washover of this,” New Zealand Football (NZF) Chief Executive Andrew Pragnell told the Reuters news agency.

“An independent review is something else that has been called for by other confederations that will help restore some of the trust.”

The OFC said in a statement that it welcomed FIFA’s decision to withdraw the proposal and that football in the Oceania region had grown under the current FIFA leadership.

“OFC recognises the progress achieved over the last decade in advancing football development in Oceania under FIFA’s leadership and encourages FIFA to use the review as an opportunity to identify and implement any changes that may be necessary,” it added.

What allies does Infantino have?

Swiss Infantino had proposed carving off ⁠the commercial rights to the World Cup and selling 20 percent to private investors to raise about $4.2bn before ⁠a U-turn following the furore.

The proposal came with a $20m grant for member associations for the next funding cycle, an amount that could have been doubled if they signed the deal.

Following a crisis meeting in Morocco last week, FIFA apologised to its 211 member associations for mistakes in the handling of the proposal and said its leadership had ⁠full support for Infantino.

Despite the opposition of the three confederations, which represent 136 of the 211 member associations who will vote in the FIFA presidential election in March, Infantino still has plenty of allies in the game.

Six ⁠heads of Arab national football associations, including Qatar and 2030 World Cup cohost Morocco, firmly ⁠backed him on Thursday, saying they appreciated his “sustained efforts to advance football globally”.

The Confederation of African Football’s executive committee also unanimously confirmed its support for Infantino, though, there is no guarantee of a bloc vote from all 54 members.

Pragnell said an independent review into the scrapped FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal needed to shed light on decision-making and oversight at FIFA.

It should ‌also identify who was involved in the plan for Thrive Capital, a firm with close familial links to US President Donald Trump, to play a leading role in the venture.

“I think the scope needs to be considered really carefully, but what’s most important is that all confederations should agree ‌on ‌the scope, and it needs to get under way with urgency,” Pragnell told Reuters.

AFC member Australia has also called for an independent review alongside the Asian bloc, without publicly expressing a position on Infantino’s leadership.

“Based on what we’ve seen, including [Australia’s] commitment to the AFC statement, we’re strongly aligned,” Pragnell said.