South Africa vs New Zealand

History of the epic battles between Springboks and All Blacks

Updated Stats:

•South Africa and New Zealand have played three Tests in RWC tournaments. The first was in the memorable 1995 tournament when the Springboks won the World Cup in extra time at Ellis Park in Johannesburg. The final score 15-12.

•Four years later in 1999, the two rivals met in Cardiff to contest the third place play-off after New Zealand lost to France in the semi-finals while Australia won the other semi-final in extra time against the Springboks. South Africa won the bronze medal in a close-fought battle 22-18.

•The last time was in 2003 in Melbourne in the quarter-final when the All Blacks had a comfortable 29-9 win.

•Saturday’s Test match will be the 91st between the two countries. South Africa’s record against New Zealand: P: 90; W: 35; L: 52; D: 3; PF: 1 412; PA: 1 745; Win%: 39%.

•The total Test caps for the Springbok starting line-up is 701. There are 324 caps in the backline with 377 caps amongst the forwards. On the bench there are a further 461 caps.

•Bryan Habana will extend his record as the most-capped Springbok wing, with 114 caps in this position. He is the most experienced Springbok backline player with 115 caps and only Victor Matfield (125) has played in more Test matches for South Africa.

•If he scores a try, Bryan will extend his record of 64 Test tries for South Africa. Currently he is joint second on the list for most Test tries. David Campese of Australia is the other player. First on the list is Daisuke Ohata of Japan on 69 career tries.

•Bryan is the new world record holder for most Test tries as a wing. He surpassed the previous record of Daisuke Ohata of Japan (62) during the pool match against the USA.

•Bryan is the joint record holder for most career tries (15) in RWC tournaments. He can become sole record holder by scoring just one try. Jonah Lomu of New Zealand is the other player with 15 career tries. Close on Bryan’s heels is Drew Mitchell of Australia with 14 RWC career tries.

•Bryan also holds the record for most career tries (seven) by a Springbok against New Zealand.

•Bryan and JP Pietersen will be playing in their record 43rd Test as a wing combination in the starting XV.

•Handré Pollard needs three penalty goals to equal Percy Montgomery’s RWC record of 17 career penalty goals.

•Schalk Burger will play in his 78th Test as a flank, South Africa’s most capped Springbok flank. Saturday’s Test will be his 19th RWC Test, the most by a Springbok in RWC tournaments. He is also the Springbok record holder for most tries as a flank (14) as well as a forward (16).

•Bismarck du Plessis is the Springbok record holder for most tries (11) in Tests as a hooker.

•Should Ruan Pienaar be used from the bench he will become South Africa’s most capped substitute. Currently, he shares the record with Ollie le Roux on 43 Test matches as a substitute.

•Should Victor Matfield be used as a substitute he will extend his record as most capped Springbok as well as most capped Springbok against New Zealand – he has played in 26 career Tests against the All Blacks.

•The referee is Jérôme Garcès of France. He debut as an international referee was in 2010 in a match between England and the Barbarians. He served as assistant referee in four Tests during the 2011 RWC. During this tournament he was referee in three Test matches, including the South Africa/Japan Test during the first week. It will be his seventh Test involving South Africa. Of the previous six Tests, South Africa won three and lost three.

•Twickenham Stadium is the largest dedicated rugby union venue in the world, the second largest stadium in the United Kingdom and fourth largest in Europe. This is the venue for this first semi-final match of RWC 2015. Twickenham has a seating capacity of 81,605.

•South Africa have played 21 Test matches at this stadium, winning 12 and losing nine. Nineteen matches were against England. The other two were against Australia in the 1999 RWC semi-final and against Wales last Saturday.

Springbok Test match record holders at Twickenham:

•Most points: 21 by Jannie de Beer (6p, 1d) against Australia, 30 October, 1999
•Most tries: Two by Chester Williams against England, 18 November, 1995
•Most conversions: Three by Ruan Pienaar against England, 22 November, 2008
•Most penalty goals: Six by Jannie de Beer against Australia, 30 October, 1999
•Most drop goals: Four by André Pretorius against England, 25 November, 2006

The two countries, whose rivalry is of epic proportion, first met at test level in 1921. New Zealand opened the series with a 13 -5 victory in Dunedin but South Africa came back to win the second test 9 – 5. The final test ended in a 0 – 0 draw, a rarity between these two countries, and the series was shared. Joe Morgan slashes thru Springbok defence in Bloemfontein

Already it was clear that the rivalry between the two was like no other. The next test series took place in South Africa in 1928. Again it ended all square. South Africa winning the first and third tests in Durban (17 – 0) and Port Elizabeth (11 – 6) respectively and the All Blacks winning in Johannesburg (7 – 6) and Cape Town (13 – 5).

South Africa scored their first test series win over the All Blacks in 1937. While they went down 13 – 7 in the series opener in Wellington, they came back to record a 13 – 6 win in Christchurch and sealed the contest with a 17 – 6 triumph in Auckland.

In 1948 New Zealand returned to South African soil for a four-test series. Led by Felix du Plessis in the first three matches and by Basil Kenyon in the fourth, South Africa achieved a series whitewash, winning 15 – 11 in Cape Town, 12 – 6 in Johannesburg, 9 – 3 in Durban and 11 – 8 in Port Elizabeth.

New Zealand turned the tables on the Springboks seven years later, winning the 1956 series 3 -1. The All Blacks won 10 – 6 at Dunedin, but the Springboks fought back to win the second in Wellington 8 – 3.The home side responded with a 17 – 10 victory in the third encounter in Christchurch and finished the visitors off with an 11 -5 win in Auckland.

The 1960 series in South Africa could have gone either way. The Boks won the first encounter 13 – 0 at Ellis Park. The All Blacks struck back with an 11 – 3 win at Newlands and an 11 – 11 scoreline in the third test in Bloemfontein set up a thrilling final clash. The Boks won by 8 points to 3 to secure their second series win on home soil and their third in all against their traditional rivals. New Zealand raced into a 2-0 lead in the 1965 series, winning 6 – 3 and 13 – 0 in Wellington and Dunedin respectively.

While the Boks came back to record a narrow 19 – 16 win in Christchurch, the home side produced a spectacular finale to beat South Africa 20 – 3 in Auckland for a 3 – 1 series victory. It was New Zealand’s second series triumph against South Africa.

In the eight tests played on South African soil in the 70’s, South Africa won 6 and New Zealand 2. The Springboks scored back-to-back 3 -1 series victories in 1970 and 1976. In 1970, they won 17 – 6, 14 – 3 and 20 -17 in the first, third and final tests while the All Blacks won the second clash 9 -8. In 1976, South Africa again won tests 1, 3 and 4 by margins of 17 – 6, 15 – 10 and 15 – 14. The All Blacks won 15 – 9 in the second test.

If the 70’s belonged to the Springboks, the 80’s and 90’s have belonged to the All Blacks. The controversial 1981 test series, with the famous “flour bomb” test, might be recorded more for its political significance than for anything else, but the record books show that the All Blacks won the series 2 -1. They beat the Boks 14 – 9 in Christchurch, lost 24 – 12 in Wellington and finished with a narrow 25 -22 win in Auckland.

The series hastened South Africa’s descent into isolation and it was to be 11 years before the two old foes would go into battle again. South Africa re-entered the international arena in 1992. In a one-off test at Ellis Park, the All Blacks beat the Springboks 27 – 24 providing a rude awakening and a realisation of the ground that had been lost since the two countries last met in 1981.

The next series, in 1994, was to be as painful for the Boks. The All Blacks tied up the series in the first two tests, winning 22 – 14 and 13 – 9. The final test ended in an 18-all draw.

One of the most famous clashes between the Springboks and the All Blacks took place at Ellis Park on 24 June 1995. In a Rugby World Cup final that captured the attention of the world and had two entire nations on the edge of their seats for more than 2 hours, South Africa emerged victorious by 15 points to 12. It was a match that renewed and intensified the rivalry between the two teams.

1996 will go down as the All Blacks’ greatest year of competition against South Africa. They won four out of five tests played, securing their first away test series win over South Africa. In the three test series, Sean Fitzpatrick’s team won 23 – 19 and 33 – 26 in the first two games and lost 32 – 22 in the third. In the Tri-Nations, New Zealand recorded 15 – 11 and 29 – 18 victories.

In 1997 New Zealand were again the better of the two winning their Tri-Nations games 35 – 32 and 55 – 35. In the 49 clashes to date, South Africa has scored 648 points to New Zealand’s 654.

The most points scored by New Zealand in a victory over South Africa were 55 during last year’s Tri-Nations. It was also the biggest ever margin of victory over South Africa.

The 32 points scored in the third test in 1996 was South Africa’s highest winning score while the record points margin dates back to 1928 when they won 17 -0.