> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://goodoil.news/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The Tour Report - URL: https://goodoil.news/the-tour-report/ - Published: 2026-08-27T22:30:38.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-27T22:30:37.000Z - Description: Ramblings from the republic. - Author: Reproduced with permission - Tags: Politics, Sport [**Peter Williams**](https://peterallanwilliams.substack.com/p/tour-report) *Writer and broadcaster for half a century. Now watching from the sidelines although verbalising thoughts on www.reality* [*check.radio*](http://check.radio/?ref=goodoil.news) *three days a week.* Our tour in South Africa is about as close to the perfect combination of a tourist experience as you can get - watching the All Blacks in three tests against the Springboks and playing golf in between! Actually, for the sake of marital harmony there’s a bit more activity than testing ourselves on some world class courses on non-match days but you get my drift. (We’re off to look for lions and elephants and leopards and other wildlife in a game reserve today.) This is my first visit to the republic this century. In a previous life I was a regular visitor here reporting on the activities of the national cricket team and various incarnations of the 1990s All Blacks. After the wonderful win in last weekend’s opening test, a win against many expectations, my mind went back to late November 1994 when, also against expectations, the New Zealand cricket team before they were known as the Black Caps beat South Africa in the first test of a three match series. There are other parallels too. That match 32 years ago was the first time a New Zealand cricket team had played a series in South Africa in three decades. Yes, the All Blacks have been here many times since their famous series win in 1996, but this Greatest Rivalry tour is a sort of throwback to the way international rugby used to be organised. I’m hoping that the All Blacks of 2026 don’t suffer the same fate as the cricketers from 1994\. After a brilliant win at The Wanderers ground in Johannesburg the cricket tour never again reached the same heights. To be frank, a lot of that was self inflicted. Even by the standards of the day there was far too much drinking and socialising. The team became one of the few in cricket history at the time to lose a three-match series after being one game ahead. I’m certain modern day All Blacks won’t succumb to infamous South African hospitality the way those cricketers did – and I’m told many an All Black touring team of generations past have as well! These 2026 rugby players have set themselves a very high bar after that opening match at Ellis Park. They’re much better conditioned and managed than most of their predecessors but the task ahead over the next two weekends is a Herculean one. One of the biggest changes I’ve noticed in the 27 years since I was last here is the way the black community appears to have embraced the game of rugby. The white population has decreased significantly as a proportion of the country’s population – it’s now only 7.3 per cent – but the game the British brought to the Cape Colony in the 19th century and then became the embodiment of Afrikaaner manhood in the 20th, now appears to have emerged as the country’s most high profile sport, surpassing the role football used to have a stranglehold on. Having high profile stars like Siya Kolisi, Ox Nche and Sacha Feinburg-Mngomezulu reinforces the game’s profile among the country’s 51 million blacks – and of course a couple of Rugby World Cup victories doesn’t hurt either! But this country remains a land of contrasts. Yes, there is an emerging black middle class who can be seen in their finery and brilliantly braided hair driving a Mercedes around Johannesburg’s crowded roads and motorways. But more stark are the hovels and shacks you drive past in the Ellis Park neighbourhood and which are still prevalent in Soweto and Alexandria. My caddie at Gendower Golf Club – they come with the package – told us of his circumstances. He travels 90 minutes each way each day from Soweto in what they call taxis – that is Hiace vans or similar ferrying workers from the townships to places of employment. This to try his luck each day getting a gig at the upmarket golf club. There’s no salary. He’s paid by the round. There’s about 120 caddies toting for business daily. We’re told he was paid from our tour package for the round with a tip of around 300 rand expected afterwards, that’s $30\. It was the least we could do. Based on him telling us that he usually can get a job about three days a week and that a caddie fee is often the same as a tip, his weekly income might be around 2000 rand, about $200\. He looked to be in his 30s and said he had three kids, one of whom was disabled. His financial and housing plight will be similar to millions. Yet somewhere in this country there must be serious disposable wealth. Otherwise who’d be buying from the massive car show rooms that are omnipresent among the modern commercial developments which have sprung up in Johannesburg’s northern suburbs since I was last here? It says plenty though that the flashest of the flash car dealerships are for brands like Geely, Haval, GWD and BYD – all Chinese. So on to the game reserve. Reports on sightings of the Big Five to follow! This article was originally published on the [author’s Substack](https://peterallanwilliams.substack.com/p/tour-report).