Bok trophy tour dates announced, warm welcome expected for 4th time world champs

The 2023 Rugby World Cup winning Springbok squad are due to arrive back in South Africa from France today at the OR Tambo International Airport in Ekurhuleni.

The team will then embark on a trophy tour 48 hours later, which will start in Pretoria, Johannesburg, and Soweto on Thursday.

On Friday, the team will be in Cape Town, while Durban will have its turn on Saturday before the tour concludes in East London.

The Springboks made history on Saturday when they beat New Zealand 12-11 in a nail-biting World Cup final, becoming the first nation to win four Rugby World Cup titles.

“Satellite tours to Bloemfontein, Nelson Mandela Bay and other centres will be scheduled for 2024,” SA Rugby said in a statement.

The federation said route maps and times for each tour will be announced later.

Such tours, which were aimed at celebrating the Boks’ 2019 victory, were abandoned in 2020 due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.