SA Rugby Invests Heavily in National Teams
SA Rugby spent a quarter of its total income directly on national teams, including the Springboks, Springbok Women, Springboks Sevens, Junior Boks, and other teams, in 2025. The organisation’s group revenues increased by 29% from R1.5 billion in 2024 to R2 billion in 2025. A significant portion of this revenue, R500 million, was spent directly on the Springboks (R281 million) and the High-Performance Department (R221 million), which oversees all other national teams.
Rian Oberholzer, CEO of SA Rugby, noted that this investment has already shown positive results on the field. The Springboks’ continued success has been mirrored by other national teams.
National Teams Enjoy Successful Year
The Blitzboks won the HSBC SVNS World Championship in 2025 and have carried this success into 2026. The Junior Springboks won the U20 world title for the first time in 13 years in 2025 and also claimed the SANZAAR U20 Rugby Championship title.
The Springbok Women had a breakthrough year, reaching the play-off stages of the Rugby World Cup for the first time and breaking into the world’s top ten.
The achievements of these teams were significantly aided by the newly formed High-Performance Department.
The department’s R221 million expenditure included costs related to the high-performance centre in Stellenbosch and an expanded playing programme for national teams.
Financial Highlights
SA Rugby’s financial statements reveal that R195 million was spent on national team players and referees to secure their image rights for commercial purposes and to insure them against injury.
The organisation also invested R400 million directly into its 15 member unions to support the playing of the game.
The increased revenues were partly driven by record sponsorship revenues, which jumped by 51% from R488 million to R739 million following a commercial reset.
This exceeded broadcast revenues of R678 million for the first time.
A change in the Test match hosting model also contributed to the revenue growth, yielding R402 million with a direct match day cost of delivery of R213m.
Challenges Persist
Despite the revenue growth, SA Rugby still reported a pre-taxation loss of R40 million for the group.
This highlights the ongoing challenges towards achieving long-term solvency and sustainability.
The need for a reserve fund or investment fund remains critical in the modern era of sport and rugby.
The accounts received an unqualified audit based on a detailed management solvency assessment and action plan.
The accounts were presented to members at the Annual Meeting in Cape Town.
https://springboks.rugby/news-features/articles/2026/5/14/sa-rugby-spends-half-a-billion-on-national-teams
