Rugby-Boks to play New Zealand in Pretoria in 2018 Rugby Championship

CAPE TOWN, Dec 11 (Reuters) - South African Rugby have announced the venues for the Springboks’ three home matches in the 2018 Rugby Championship, including a fixture against world champions New Zealand in Pretoria.

The Boks will start their campaign at King’s Park in Durban when they host Argentina on Aug. 18, before travelling to South America for the return fixture at a venue that has yet to be decided.

After matches away to Australia in Brisbane and New Zealand in Wellington, they return home to host the Wallabies at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Sept. 29.

South Africa will finish their campaign against New Zealand at altitude at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, where they have won their last nine tests since a 45-26 loss to the All Blacks in 2006.

The Boks played their home Rugby Championship matches in Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein and Cape Town in 2017, when they finished third in the competition.

SA Rugby announced this month that the side would host England in three test matches in June, 2018 to be played in Johannesburg, Bloemfontein and Cape Town. (Reporting by Nick Said, editing by Ed Osmond)