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
Best viewed in 1024 x 768 or better Custom website creation by The Computer Guy Web Design