'Miracle of Brighton' rematch to be played at Wembley

The opening match of South Africa’s November tour of Europe against Japan will be played at Wembley Stadium in London.

It will be the first game of international rugby to be played at the home of English football since 2016, when the Springboks and the Barbarians played out a thrilling 31-31 draw.

Previously, it had been mooted that the match might be played in Brighton, the venue for Japan’s historic 34-32 win over the Boks at the 2015 World Cup.

With a large expat community in London, South Africa can rely on good support whenever they play in London.

And the two-time defending Rugby World Cup champions are no strangers to hosting fixtures in the capital city, having defeated Wales 41-13 in June 2024 at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.

Rassie Erasmus’ side have also claimed victories over England (29-20) and New Zealand (35-7) in London over the last couple of years.

“We are delighted to be starting off our tour of the Northern Hemisphere with a match against Japan at the iconic Wembley Stadium, especially ahead of a challenging Castle Lager Outgoing Tour which kicks off a week later with the first official Test of the November window against France in Paris,” said Erasmus.

“We have had fantastic support from our fans in the UK for our fixtures in London over the past few years and I am sure this match will be no different, especially being at one of the most famous sporting venues in the world.”

This will be only the fourth meeting between South Africa and Japan, with the Springboks winning the last two encounters (both in 2019), following the ‘Miracle of Brighton’ in 2015.

That historic result, regarded as the greatest upset in the history of the Rugby World Cup, was South Africa’s first-ever defeat to a Tier 2 nation and changed the landscape of Japanese rugby forever.

Head Coach of Japan for that match in 2015, Eddie Jones returned to the Brave Blossoms in 2024 after stints in charge of England and Australia.

He is relishing the prospect of another clash with the world champions.

“The game in Brighton ten years ago changed rugby in Japan from being a minor sport to a boom sport,” he said. “Playing against the Boks is the dream of every young Japanese player.”

Wembley Stadium has hosted 11 rugby matches over the years, starting with England’s 26-13 win over Canada in 1992.

Since the venue was rebuilt and reopened in 2007, four international rugby fixtures have been played there, including two Rugby World Cup matches in 2015 (New Zealand 26-16 Argentina, Ireland 44-10 Romania), which both drew capacity crowds of just under 90,000 people.

Tickets will go on general sale from 11am on 22 August via Ticketmaster.co.uk, starting from £55 for adults and £27.50 for Under-16s.