All Blacks to play Springboks at Soccer City

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The All Blacks will play their Tri-Nations match against the Springboks on August 21 at the state-of-the-art Soccer City stadium in Soweto that will host this month's football World Cup final.

The decision to move the August 21 fixture from Ellis Park in Johannesburg to the 95,000-capacity football stadium in Soweto hasn't been officially announced in South Africa yet, but All Blacks coach Graham Henry rather let the cat out of the bag when asked today by stuff.co.nz about the change in venue.

"Yeah, that's official isn't it," he replied. "Am I allowed top say that Joe?" he asked his media man Joe Locke.

"I've just said it, haven't I? It's been speculated... no, I'm not allowed to say that. No, it's only speculated we're playing in a stadium that holds 97,000. Gee, that would be great, wouldn't it? I can't wait."

The South African Rugby Union will officially announce the move on Wednesday in Johannesburg, but the shift has already been widely speculated and clearly the All Blacks have already been informed of the move.

It's an interesting call to take the match away from the intimidating venue that is Ellis Park which has a capacity of 62,300 and a long history of test rugby.

However, the chance to fill Soccer City for a rugby test barely a month after the football World Cup final clearly appeals to the South Africans, not to mention the extra revenue they'll earn by doing so.

The Soweto swing is not without a successful precedent either, with the Bulls forced to shift their Super 14 semifinal and final to Orlando Stadium, also in Soweto, because of World Cup commitments at Loftus Versfeld.

The Bulls won both matches in what were magnificent occasions in the township.

The Johannesburg test would not be the biggest crowd the All Blacks have played in front of, with that honour going to the 109,874 that packed the Olympic venue in Sydney in 2000 to witness what many called the the greatest test in history, won 39-35 by the New Zealanders.

- © Fairfax NZ News