The Springboks are the South African national Rugby Union team (for foreigners who do not watch rugby and are not aware of this).
The Springboks have been playing rugby for more than 100 years. There’s probably a lot of things that you didn’t know about them…
Here are 32 facts you might not have known about the Springboks:
1. The first ever Springbok test match was played on the 30th of July 1891 against a touring side from the British Isles.
2. Paul Roos was the captain of the first South African team to tour the British Isles and France. The team was largely dominated by players from the Western Province and took place over 1906–07.
3. The Springboks played their first test against the All Blacks in 1921 at Carisbrook in Dunedin, New Zealand.
4. The Springboks have played against the All Blacks 108 times. New Zealand won 62 of those matches, South Africa won 42 and 4 matches have resulted in draws.
4. During the final test match at Eden Park, Auckland on 12 September 1981 a low-flying light plane piloted by Marx Jones and Grant Cole disrupted the final game of the controversial Springbok tour to New Zealand by dropping flour-bombs on the pitch. In spite of the flour bombing, the game was continued.
5. The Springboks have won the IRB Rugby World Cup four times, in 1995 (in South Africa), in 2007 (in France), in 2019 (in Japan) and in 2023 (in France). The Springboks did not compete in the 1987 and 1991 IRB Rugby World Cup tournaments.
6. Kitch Christie (1994 -1996), Jake White (2004-2007), Rassie Erasmus (2018-2019) and Jacques Nienaber (2020-2023) were the coaches for the IRB World Cup winning Springbok teams.
7. The Springboks won the Tri-Nations tournament between South Africa, New Zealand and Australia 3 times (in 1998, 2004 and 2009). Argentina was added into the mix in 2012 and the tournament became known as the Rugby Championship. South Africa won the tournament for the first time in 2019.
8. 14 South Africans have been inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame. The list includes Naas Botha, Danie Gerber, Danie Craven, Nelson Mandela and Kitch Christie.
9. In 1903 the British Isles lost a series for the first time in South Africa. The Springboks remained unbeaten in any series (home or away) until 1956.
10. To date the Springboks have played a total of 633 test matches. They’ve won 353. lost 176 and drawn 24 matches. They’ve scored more than 11,000 points in those games.
11. The most capped Springbok player of all time is Eben Etzebeth. He has represented South Africa in 131 test matches to date. The 2nd most capped player in Victor Matfield. He played 127 tests from South Africa.
12. Percy Montgomery holds the South African record for test points. He scored 893 points in 102 tests between 1998 and 2007. He also holds the record for the most points scored by a Springbok player in a test match (35).
13. The most points that a Springbok team has scored in a match are 134. They scored 21 tries in a test match against Uruguay in East London in 2005. The visitors only scored 3 points in the match.
14. The Springboks had their longest winning streak between August 1997 and September 1998. They won 17 test matches in a row.
15. Bryan Habana holds the record for the most individual tries scored by a Springbok. He scored 67 tries in 124 matches.
16. The Springboks lost 7 consecutive matches between July 1964 and August 1965. This is their longest losing streak in history.
17. Naas Botha holds the Springbok record for most drop goals scored by an individual player. He kicked over 18 drop goals in 28 test matches between 1980 and 1992.
18. Morne Steyn is the Springboks’ second-highest points-scorer with 742 points and needs eight points to reach 750 career points. He holds the record for the most penalty goals (156) in his 68 Tests.
19. Bryan Habana is the Springbok player that has been issued with most yellow cards. He received 7 of them between 2004 and 2016.
20. A total of only 9 Springbok players have been sent off (since the introduction of red cards).
21. In 2017 Newland beat South Africa with a score of 57 points to 0. It’s the Springbok’s match with greatest losing margin.
22, John Smit played in 83 test matches for the Boks between 2003 and 2011. He holds the record as the most-capped Springbok captain. Current Springbok captain Siya Kolisi has captained the Boks in 44 matches to date.
23. Tonderai Chavhanga holds the Springbok record for the most tries scored by a player in a test match. He scored 6 tries against Uruguay in 2005.
24. On 8 October 2019 Springbok player Cobus Reinach scored a hat-trick in 20 minutes in the 66–7 win over Canada at the 2019 IRB Rugby World Cup, the fastest hat-trick in IRB Rugby World Cup History.
He also holds the record for the 2nd fastest hat-trick in IRB Rugby World Cup history – he scored three tries against Romania in the 2023 in 25 minutes.
25. South Africa became the first country to win 4 IRB Rugby World Cup titles and the second country to defend a IRB Rugby World Cup title in 2023.
26. The Springboks won their first test after the 2023 IRB Rugby World Cup against Wales on the 22nd of June 2024 at Twickenham (in London).
27. The Boks won the first test against Ireland on the 6th of July 2024 at Loftus Versveld in Pretoria by 7 points, but lost the next test (which was played at Kings Park Stadium in Durban) by 1 point.
28. Despite have 14 men on the field for most of the match, the Springoks beat Portugal in the first ever test match between the two countries in Bloemfontein. The Springboks won by 64 points to 21.
29. The Springboks won the Rugby Championship for the first time since 2019 in 2024. They only lost one match in the tournament (against Argentina).
30. The Springboks beat the All Blacks 4 times in a row for the first time in 2024. The last time this happened was in 1949.
31. The Springboks won all three of their tests in the Northern Hemipshere in November 2024. They beat Scotland, England and Wales convincingly.
32. Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus made use of more than 50 different Springbok players in the 2024 season.
Well, there you have it, 32 facts you might not have known about the Springboks. If I’ve left out anything important on this post, please comment below.
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