JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa and New Zealand fly together to Baltimore on Sunday to conclude their epic rugby test series without key players Cheslin Kolbe and Ardie Savea.
Both suffered series-ending injuries on Saturday as the world champion Springboks beat the All Blacks 29-24 and grabbed a 2-1 lead in the four-test series.
Kolbe, South Africa's flawless goalkicker in the series, broke his jaw when he was run over by Luke Jacobson, and Savea, the All Blacks captain, possibly dislocated his right shoulder in a clearout by Jasper Wiese. Also, New Zealand center Quinn Tupaea damaged his MCL.
Neither team planned to replace them in the squad for the final match next Saturday at the NFL home of the Baltimore Ravens.
Having guided the Springboks into a series lead after losing the first match, coach Rassie Erasmus was relieved.
“It was epic, it was intense,” he said. “We're just happy we won.”
He believed the main difference between the sides was the depth of team knowledge between him and New Zealand counterpart Dave Rennie. Erasmus has had oversight of the Boks since 2018 and Rennie since June.
“Dave doesn't have that luxury yet,” Erasmus said. "He's building a team and I know what that feels like; in 2018 I got the team 18 months before a World Cup.
“I know these players inside out. They know me. They know when to take me serious and when not. We've got the luxury of knowing each other for nine years, through tough times, and that's not to say we're always going to win because of that, but we're just a little more used to (tough times). Dave and his team will find each other in those tough times but for us it's, not easy, but a lot easier to get through those tough times.”
Erasmus believed the score fairly reflected the contest. The Springboks didn't lead the third test until the game was an hour old and fought hard for an edge in the set-pieces.
“We're not sitting here thinking we are awesome,” he said. “We're thinking there was also a lot of luck that went our way.”
Rennie believed the gap between the teams was small and thought a couple of errors on Saturday made the difference.
“It's frustrating because there was a lot of effort out there but we just weren't clinical in that first half and couldn't wrestle momentum back when it mattered in that second half,” he said.
The first key moment in the second half was when New Zealand scored to lead 17-12 and immediately gave it away when Leroy Carter fell off South Africa's Jesse Kriel, who scored.
“I feel for Leroy. He's a good man, he's a very good defender, I'm sure he’s hurting about that,” Rennie said. “Our job once they've scored was to bounce back, try and take control of possession but they were able to dominate the next 10 minutes and that was pivotal.”
The second moment was Will Jordan kicking the ball dead.
“Just unlucky,” Rennie said. “It was a good option but you come back to a scrum, which is a penalty, which is a maul where they drive however many meters to score.”
That maul try to Malcolm Marx was the killer blow.
“We scrambled to try and get in front of it and they kept rolling through us,” Rennie said. “It was the only (maul) that troubled us today. It's disappointing.”
See AP’s full rugby coverage here
South Africa's Ethan Hooker, center, is tackled by New Zealand's Anton Lienert-Brown during a third international test rugby match between South Africa and New Zealand, in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
New Zealand's captain Ardie Savea gestures towards the fans following a third international test rugby match between South Africa and New Zealand, in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
DARLINGTON, S.C. (AP) — Chase Briscoe liked Darlington Raceway from the moment he first drove here seven years ago. He'll like it a lot more if he can make history with his third straight win at the Southern 500 on Sunday.
Only NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon would have more, with four straight victories from 1995-98 at the track dubbed “Too Tough to Tame.”
Briscoe recalled his opening practice in an O'Reilly Auto Parts Series car back in 2019. “After the first five laps, I thought, 'Man, this place is awesome.'”
His affinity for Darlington has only grown since then. He won the Triple-A tier series race here in 2021, then took the past two Southern 500s to match a feat that only seven other drivers, including Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, David Pearson and Dale Earnhardt — all Hall of Famers — had ever achieved.
Winning three in a row? “That's definitely on the radar,” Briscoe said with a grin. “To do that three times in a row would be something really, really special.”
It also would be a strong start for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver's latest attempt at a NASCAR Cup championship, a chase that begins Sunday.
Briscoe finished fifth in the standings, 45 points behind regular-season champion and JGR teammate Denny Hamlin. The margin is manageable, especially with the format change, where none of the 16 competitors in The Chase will be eliminated during the next 10 races.
Briscoe brings with him an understanding of how to make his car better during his time on Darlington's oddball layout. While others complain about the egg-shaped oval's tight corners and tire-chewing surface, Briscoe has pushed all the right buttons to get to victory lane the past two years.
He used a drama-filled, three-wide pass late in the race to win in 2024 to qualify for that year's playoff grid. A season later, Briscoe had a dominant machine as he led 309 of 367 laps for his second Southern 500 in a row.
“When you're able to win two years in a row, that confidence just builds more and more every single time," Briscoe said. “So this is always one I've got circled on the calendar and one where the circle gets bigger.”
Denny Hamlin enters NASCAR's playoff Chase as the favorite and with experience in the reset format, in which none of the 16 competitors will be knocked out. But what if the 45-year-old future Hall of Famer doesn't win the championship this year or before he chooses to leave the sport?
“It would mean a lot personally,” Hamlin said this week while previewing the playoffs. “But also if I quit today, I'm still really happy with the stats we were able to put on the stat sheet and the wins we've been able to get. It certainly would be very gratifying, but what matters to me is my dad saw me when I was at my absolute best, and that was at Phoenix last year.”
Hamlin's father, Dennis, was his son's biggest supporter, and Hamlin said that his dad's sacrifices helped him achieve all he has in racing. Dennis died last December at 75, a few weeks after his son competed for the title at Phoenix.
Denny Hamlin holds the record with 19 playoff appearances and 14 playoff race wins. He has made the Championship 4 at the final race four times, including last year. But he has not broken through for a title.
He sits ninth all-time with 64 NASCAR victories, including four this season to take the 2026 regular-season title. He hopes to add a few more on the way to celebrating in Homestead in a couple of months. “I'm a little bit ahead and I've got enough races to prove that we're the best,” he said.
Ryan Preece, who won his way into the playoffs with a victory at Daytona last week, plans to stay aggressive and focused in the postseason. It's the only strategy that make sense to him.
“We have nothing to lose,” said Preece, seeded 16th in the 16-driver grid. "When I look at where we're at, if we're aggressive and it doesn't work out we’re still at the bottom.”
Hamlin and Tyler Reddick are the co-favorites to win the Southern 500 on Sunday, tied at plus-500. Briscoe, looking for his third straight win at Darlington's crown jewel event, is next at plus-600. Following Briscoe is Kyle Larson (plus-850), Christopher Bell (plus-1000) and Ryan Blaney (plus-1100).
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Chase Briscoe (19) and Ty Gibbs (54) steer their cars out of Turn 4 during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Chase Briscoe walks to the drivers meeting before a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
