South Africa national rugby union team
The South Africa national rugby union team (Afrikaans: Suid-Afrikaanse nasionale rugbyspan), officially nicknamed the Springboks, represents South Africa in international rugby union. They are South Africa's most successful national sports teams, and are considered the second best rugby union team of all time overall (after New Zealand). They are also currently ranked first on the World Rugby Rankings.
| Nickname(s) | Springboks Bokke Amabhokobhoko Bokmasjien | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Emblem | Springbok | ||
| Union | SA Rugby | ||
| Head coach | Jacques Nienaber | ||
| Captain | Siya Kolisi | ||
| Most caps | Victor Matfield (127) | ||
| Top scorer | Percy Montgomery (893) | ||
| Top try scorer | Bryan Habana (67) | ||
| Home stadium | Various | ||
| |||
| World Rugby ranking | |||
| Current | 1 (as of 16 October 2023) | ||
| Highest | 1 (2007; 2008, 2009, 2019–2021, 2022, 2023) | ||
| Lowest | 7 (2017; 2018) | ||
| First international | |||
 South Africa 0–4 British Isles  (Cape Town, South Africa; 30 July 1891) | |||
| Biggest win | |||
 South Africa 134–3 Uruguay  (East London, South Africa; 11 June 2005) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
 New Zealand 57–0 South Africa (Auckland, New Zealand; 16 September 2017) | |||
| World Cup | |||
| Appearances | 8 (First in 1995) | ||
| Best result | Champions (1995, 2007, 2019, 2023) | ||
| Website | springboks | ||
South Africa has won the Rugby World Cup four times (in 1995, 2007, 2019 and 2023), which is more times than any other country. Even though South Africa has always been an important country for rugby union and rugby union is very popular in the country, South Africa was not allowed to compete in the first two World Cups (in 1987 and 1991) because of Apartheid.