Aisle be Back: Gearing up for the end of season tour, the NPC and South Africa next year

• By Kevin McCarthy

There’s a distinctly retro feel to the end days of 2025. Well, not end days in the apocalyptic sense, but in the VHS sense.

Think back to fuzzy, unsaturated colour pictures beamed in at 3 in the morning, or the days of Goldie at Carisbrook. Not an exact match but certainly the prospect of a Grand Slam, and an Otago team as the great entertainers of the NPC, does revive fond memories.

You might ask if this is truly a Grand Slam. Since the All Blacks are playing Ireland in Chicago, rather than Dublin.  To which you should say, who cares, as long as we win.

That’s if the team manages actually to escape Chicago, where there’s open warfare, troops on the streets, and subversives dressed as Frogs and T-Rexes threatening to topple democracy.

Having been to Chicago twice, the worst violence I saw was when I tried to get a picture of the giant reflective waterfront sculpture and instead smacked my head on it. And the most danger undeniably was the deep dish pizza.

Ireland should be beatable, because they’re also in that difficult transition from champion side to whatever comes next.

Scotland still tends to be underrated, but given this New Zealand’s squads challenges with consistency, then don’t be surprised if it’s a close run.

On paper then, England should be the sternest challenge –  if that’s overcome and the Slam is still on, then surely Wales can be comfortably defeated.

At which point, it’ll have been a pretty strong 2025. But there’s also a relentlessness to playing every weekend for a month, so the squad is sure to have to dig deep at times.

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In the meantime, the NPC is hurtling towards its crunch time. Canterbury yes may well win the whole shooting match, though you’d be foolish to bet on it being easy against visitors Hawke’s Bay.

Otago face Bay of Plenty tonight under the roof, and even if they lose, they’ve certainly won over a few outside fans with their never say day propensity for last minute drama. That and the typical style of attack-first.

If the talk of All Black bolters centres on your side, then you certainly doing  great job of showing up on the public radar.

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And finally, to cap off the retro vibe, it’s time to book your steamer tickets to South Africa.

Dates out yesterday confirmed the All Blacks will play four franchises and three tests on their 2026 tour to the Republic.

It will all be capped off by a fourth test at the famous venue of TBC. But it will be a no-brainer that it is Twickenham, you’d have to think.  It may make a Grand Slam look like a walk in the park.

Besides this, the Rugby Championship gets sidelined, and the new Nations Cup is happening.  Can’t claim it will be boring.

Tour fixtures 2026
Friday 7 August: Stormers v All Blacks, DHL Stadium, Cape Town
Tuesday 11 August: Sharks v All Blacks, Kings Park, Durban
Saturday 15 August: Bulls v All Blacks, Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Saturday 22 August: Springboks v All Blacks, Ellis Park, Johannesburg (first Test)
Tuesday 25 August: Lions v All Blacks, Ellis Park, Johannesburg
Saturday 29 August: Springboks v All Blacks, DHL Stadium, Cape Town (second Test)
Saturday 5 September: Springboks v All Blacks, FNB Stadium, Johannesburg (third Test)
Saturday 12 September: Springboks v All Blacks. Venue to be announced (fourth Test)