List of South Africa national rugby union team records

South Africa (known as the Springboks) area Rugby Union National Team that played their first international match in 1891.

The records listed below only include performances in Test matches. The top five are listed in each category (except when there is a tie for the last place among the five, when all the tied record holders are noted).

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Team records

Greatest winning margin^[1]
Points margin (score)	Opposing team	Venue	Year
131 (134–3)	Uruguay	Buffalo City Stadium, East London	2005
101 (101–0)	Italy	Kings Park Stadium, Durban	1999
92 (105–13)	Namibia	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town	2007
87 (87–0)	Namibia	North Harbour Stadium, Auckland	2011
83 (96–13)	Wales	Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria	1998

Greatest losing margin^[2]
Points margin (score)	Opposing team	Venue	Year
57 (0-57)	New Zealand	QBE Stadium, Albany	2017
50 (3–53)	England	Twickenham Stadium, London	2002
49 (0–49)	Australia	Lang Park, Brisbane	2006
42 (15-57)	New Zealand	Kings Park Stadium,Durban	2016
36 (16–52)	New Zealand	Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria	2003

Individual records

Most caps

#	Name	Period	Caps	Starts	Subs	Position
1	Victor Matfield	2001–2015	127	121	6	Lock
2	Bryan Habana	2004–2016	124	122	2	Wing
3	Eben Etzebeth	2012–	119	113	6	Lock
4	Tendai Mtawarira	2008–2019	117	102	15	Prop
5	John Smit	2000–2011	111	94	17	Hooker
6	Jean de Villiers	2002–2015	109	105	4	Centre
7	Percy Montgomery	1997–2008	102	90	12	Fullback
8	Willie le Roux	2013–	94	79	15	Fullback
9	Joost van der Westhuizen	1993–2003	89	78	11	Scrum-half
10	Ruan Pienaar	2006–2015	88	45	43	Scrum-half

Most points

#	Player	Period	Points	Caps	Tries	Con	Pen	DG	Ave
1	Percy Montgomery	1997–2008	893	102	25	153	148	6	8.75
2	Morné Steyn	2009–2021	742	68	8	102	156	10	10.91
3	Handré Pollard	2014–	698	69	7	96	152	5	10.12
4	Bryan Habana	2004–2016	335	124	67	0	0	0	2.7
5	Elton Jantjies	2012–	331	46	2	66	62	1	7.2
6	Naas Botha	1980–1992	312	28	2	50	50	18	11.14
7	Joel Stransky	1993–1996	240	22	6	30	47	3	10.91
8	Braam van Straaten	1999–2001	221	21	2	23	55	0	10.52
9	Joost van der Westhuizen	1993–2003	190	89	38	0	0	0	2.13
10	Jannie de Beer	1997–1999	181	13	2	33	27	8	15.08

Most tries

#	Name	Period	Tries	Caps	Ave.	Position
1	Bryan Habana	2004–2017	67	124	54%	Wing
2	Joost van der Westhuizen	1993–2003	38	89	42.7%	Scrum-half
3	Jaque Fourie	2003–2013	32	72	44.4%	Centre
4	Jean de Villiers	2002–2015	27	109	24.8%	Centre
5	Makazole Mapimpi	2018–	26	41	63.4%	Wing
5	Breyton Paulse	1997–2007	26	64	40.6%	Wing
7	Percy Montgomery	1997–2008	25	102	24.5%	Fullback
8	JP Pietersen	2006–2016	24	70	34.3%	Wing
9	Pieter Rossouw	1997–2003	21	43	48.8%	Wing
10	James Small	1992–1997	20	47	42.6%	Wing

Most appearances as captain

#	Name	Period	Apps	Win %	Position
1	John Smit	2003–2011	83	65.1%	Hooker
2	Siya Kolisi	2018–	53	62.3%	Flanker
3	Jean de Villiers	2012–2015	37	64.9%	Centre
4	Gary Teichmann	1996–1999	36	72.2%	Number 8
5	Francois Pienaar	1993–1996	29	65.5%	Flanker

Match records

Most points in a match^[3]
Points	Player	Opposing team	Venue	Year
35	Percy Montgomery	Namibia	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town	2007
34	Jannie de Beer	England	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	1999
31	Percy Montgomery	Wales	Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria	1998
	Morné Steyn	New Zealand	Kings Park Stadium, Durban	2009
	Handré Pollard	Argentina	Estadio Padre Ernesto Martearena, Salta	2019

Most tries in a match^[4]
Tries	Player	Opposing team	Venue	Year
6	Tonderai Chavhanga	Uruguay	Buffalo City Stadium, East London	2005
5	Stefan Terblanche	Italy	Kings Park Stadium, Durban	1999
4	Chester Williams	Samoa	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg	1995
	Pieter Rossouw	France	Parc des Princes, Paris	1997
	Stefan Terblanche	Ireland	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein	1998
	Bryan Habana	Samoa	Parc des Princes, Paris	2007
	Jongi Nokwe	Australia	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg	2008

References

^ Statsguru / Ordered by: points difference (descending), Scrum, 4 October 2019.
^ Statsguru / Ordered by: points difference (reverse), Scrum, 4 October 2019.
^ Statsguru / Ordered by: total points scored in a match, Scrum, 4 October 2019.
^ Statsguru / Ordered by: total tries scored in a match, Scrum, 4 October 2019.

South Africa national rugby union team

South African Rugby Union

History

Players

Competitions and trophies

Related teams

Matches

World Cup finals	1995 2007 2019 2023
By opponent	Argentina Australia Barbarians British & Irish Lions England France Ireland Italy New Zealand Scotland Wales
See also	New Zealand (1992)

Tours

Argentina and South America	1932 1959 1966 1972 1980 1993 1996 2000 2005
Australia	1921 1937 1956 1965 1971 1993
Europe	1906–07 1912–13 1931–32 1951–52 1960–61 1965 1969–70 1992 1994 1996 1997 1998 2000 2001 2002 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
New Zealand	1921 1937 1956 1965 1981 1994
North America	1981 2001

This page was last edited on 9 February 2024, at 19:36