Springboks

The South Africa national rugby union team are affectionately known as the Springboks by supporters all over the world. They're also the current holders of the Rugby World Cup and are one of the finest teams on the planet.

On this page you'll find everything there is to know about the South Africa Rugby team. You can discover the history of the side, learn more about the current South Africa Rugby squad and see the latest fixtures and results for the South Africa national rugby union team.

Ever since their inception, the Springboks  have been highly successful. By the inter-war years, they'd already established themselves as one of the great powers of rugby union.

However, although the Springboks  have always been influential, the team hasn't always had a chance to display their dominance on the pitch. For example, although South Africa was instrumental in the creation of the Rugby World Cup, the team could not compete in the first two editions of the tournament due to anti-apartheid sporting boycotts.

But, the first time the Springboks entered the competition in 1995, they both hosted and won the tournament. Since, they've continued to be highly successful. They've won the tournament three more times (2007, 2019 and 2023) and they've been the number-one ranked team in the world on multiple occasions.

In addition, since the Springboks were added to The Rugby Championship (formerly the Tri Nations) tournament in 1996, they've won the competition on five occasions. They're also the only team who have won this competition and the Rugby World Cup in the same year.

South Africa’s 2023 Rugby World Cup victory in France made the Springboks the first team to capture four World Cup titles, with New Zealand second on three, Australia on two and England on one. 

Several giants of the game have played for the South Africa Rugby team on the international stage. This includes more than a dozen players who have been inducted into either the International Rugby Hall of Fame or the World Rugby Hall of Fame, such as John Smit and Francois Pienaar.

The current South Africa Rugby squad also includes many star names like loose forward Siya Kolisi, lock Eben Etzebeth, scrumhalf Faf de Klerk and star winger, Cheslin Kolbe.