South Africa vs Ireland

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Ireland won their first test on South African soil when they beat the Springboks by 26-20 at Newlands, Cape Town, on the 11th June 2016. Irelands first victory against South Africa came on April 10th, 1965 in Dublin, with the home team recording a hard fought 9-6 triumph. They came close five years later at the same venue when they just failed to chalk up a second consecutive victory, tying with the Springboks 6-6. Their next victory was on the 13th November 2004, in Dublin, when they won 17-12.

Irelands first victory against South Africa came on April 10th, 1965 in Dublin, with the home team recording a hard fought 9-6 triumph. They came close five years later at the same venue when they just failed to chalk up a second consecutive victory, tying with the Springboks 6-6.

• Springbok wing Kurt-Lee Arendse will start the match with an impressive try-scoring record of 12 tries in 11 Tests.
• Springbok centre Damian de Allende will reach the 75 Test mark when he takes the field on Saturday.
• Saturday’s match will be the first time the Springboks and Ireland clash at a Rugby World Cup, making it the first Test between the two sides at a neutral venue.
• Bongi Mbonambi, Frans Malherbe, Steven Kitshoff, Eben Etzebeth, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Franco Mostert, Siya Kolisi, Faf de Klerk and Damian de Allende are the only players left from the last time the Boks beat Ireland – on 25 June 2016, in Nelson Mandela Bay.
• Kitshoff and Mbonambi made their Springbok debuts in the same match against Ireland seven years ago, while De Klerk and Mostert debuted earlier in that series against the Irish.
• Replacement forwards Jean Kleyn, RG Snyman and Marco van Staden will face Ireland for the first time.
• The Springboks have won their last seven Tests in the French capital. Their last defeat in the city was in 2005 by France (20-26).
• Miscellaneous:
  • The total Test caps for the Springbok starting line-up is 833.
  • There are 271 caps in the backline, with 562 caps among the forwards. On the bench there are a further 208 caps.
  • The average caps per player in the backline is 38, the forwards 70, while the players on the bench average 26