BOOKING HEARTBREAK: Agencies seek answers after promised Cape Town Test tickets fail to arrive

Hundreds of rugby tickets thought to be bought and sold months in advance for the Springboks’ clash against the All Blacks in Cape Town never materialised, leaving travel agencies and hospitality providers as well as supporters scrambling for answers.

Clients had already booked flights, accommodation and hospitality packages for the sold-out clash on 29 August, with some travelling from Zimbabwe and as far away as New Zealand and London.

Numerous companies, including SportPro, Steadfast Africa, C Sports International, Tour d’Afrique and more, had purchased tickets from external suppliers, but they never arrived.

Now, as these affected companies seek refunds and explore legal action, attention has shifted to the ticket supply chain through which several agencies sourced their allocations.

The uncertainty led to backlash against the South African Rugby Union (Saru), with claims that the federation had double-sold tickets or had problems with its ticketing system. 

Saru rejects blame 

Saru has strongly denied the allegations and has since reported four companies to the South African Police Service (SAPS). 

In a statement put out by SportPro, which operates as a specialised auction platform, the company explained to its clients that the firm from which it had bought the tickets, although it does not specify which firm, told it that Saru had “messed up the ticketing” when it moved to its own app. 

“Apparently, many tickets were double sold,” SportPro told customers.

Daily Maverick contacted SportPro, but it declined to comment further on the matter.

Saru responded in a statement on 29 August that this was “completely untrue”. 

In response to questions from Daily Maverick, a Saru spokesperson said that if tickets had been double sold, the issue would have come to light only “in the turnstiles on Saturday”. 

Saru further said that those supporters “were not ticket holders” and were “sold a promise that the sellers had no legal right to offer or access to deliver”. 

Saru confirmed it had reported Leisure Connexion, SportPro, Steadfast Africa and Resolute Sport to the police. 

Saru said the agencies had breached event terms and conditions of sale by re-selling tickets, packaging tickets with other offerings and selling a product they did not own.  

“These are breaches of the Safety at Sports and Recreational Events Act, 2 of 2010 (Sasrea) and the failure to deliver is in breach of the Consumer Protection Act, 68 of 2008 (CPA),” said the spokesperson. 

Leisure Connexion

One of the suppliers appears to be Leisure Connexion and its managing director Adelbert Retief, who in turn said he relied on a third-party supplier.

In a statement on 28 August, Retief said the company was unable to supply its clients with tickets because they had been sourced through a third-party supplier that failed to deliver.

“Our company secured these tickets through a third-party supplier we have used on numerous occasions in the past,” said the statement.

However, it remains unclear who the third-party supplier is.

Daily Maverick attempted to contact Retief directly, but calls went unanswered.

In a subsequent statement on 31 August, Leisure Connexion said it was “aware of the current allegations against it” and that the matter was being investigated by the company and its legal representatives”.

“The various stakeholders are meeting and further information will be provided when possible,” the statement said.

Queries were referred to Jurgens Bekker Attorneys. An email seeking comment had not been answered by the time of publication.

‘He’s never not delivered to me in the past’

Steadfast Africa and C Sports International said they had previously dealt with Retief and had received tickets through him.

In a statement to clients, Steadfast Africa owner Nick Sadleir said that his supplier had been “consistently reliable for over seven years”.

A representative from C Sports International, an events, hospitality and luxury experiences company, said that they had dealt with Retief since 2019.

“He’s never not delivered to me in the past,” the representative said.

The representative said previous transactions had occasionally been delayed, but the tickets always arrived.

Another affected company, Tour d’Afrique, sought assurances from Leisure Connexion earlier this year.

In his response to Tour d’Afrique on 10 February 2026, Retief said that Leisure Connexion had been “sourcing tickets for international events for 10 years”.

“We have various sources that supply us in various territories across the globe,” he said.

He further stated that the company’s tickets were “official tickets supplied to the industry and market by event organisers”.

“The tickets that Tour d’Afrique purchased from us have been secured, and you will receive them soon,” he said.

Refunds and legal recourse 

Speaking on behalf of her brother Nick, Emma Sadleir, who is also a social media lawyer, told Daily Maverick he had ordered the tickets from Retief in October 2025.

The tickets were initially expected to arrive during the week of the match. “They kept promising they’ll come on Monday, they’ll come on Tuesday,” said Emma.

By Friday, however, the tickets had still not arrived.

In its statement, however, Steadfast Africa stated they were unsure what exactly had happened.

“At this stage, we do not know whether there was a bungling of the ticket system by the organisers, or whether there was any non-performance by our supplier or another in the chain, or if any fraud has been committed,” the statement said.

The company informed affected clients that they would be refunded even if it failed to be refunded itself.

“We feel especially bad for the many clients who have travelled internationally, specifically for this game,” the company said.

Emma stressed that her brother had not been re-selling tickets for profit.

“Nick wasn’t putting together hospitality packages and making a profit on any of these tickets,” she said. “He was just buying on behalf of his clients, some are his friends and like my dad, who came down for the weekend.

“It was just supposed to be a fun day out. He wasn’t making any markup on any of the tickets.”

Similarly, C Sports International found themselves scrambling after ordering about 200 Category A tickets. The company paid a deposit and said it would pay the rest once the tickets arrived.

“But then came Monday, came Tuesday, came Wednesday, and the stories just became a bit too difficult to believe,” the representative said. “So from Wednesday afternoon, I started communicating to my clients.”

According to the representative, C Sports International is affiliated with Saru and has suites at various stadiums as well as season packages.

As a result, the company was able to secure alternative tickets through Saru.

“To Saru’s credit, they helped me out,” the representative said. “I was able to fulfil what I needed, although it wasn’t the category A tickets I was promised.”

C Sports International, like many others, is seeking the legal route, hoping for some answers.

“We are exploring legal avenues to try and first of all find out what went wrong,” said the representative.

Counting the cost 

As questions remain unanswered, both companies say they are preparing for the possibility that they may not recover their losses.

“To be honest, I’m not confident we’re going to get the money back,” said the C Sports International representative.

“I am staring a loss in the face.”

Steadfast Africa said in its statement that their reputation would take a hit.

“This is an embarrassing situation that will negatively impact our reputation and finances, and we apologise sincerely for any inconvenience caused,” it said.

“Collectively, we have engaged with the Minister of Tourism, the Minister of Sport and the CEO of Saru. We will likely move on to the police in the next days.” DM