South Africa national rugby league team

Rugby league first gained attention in South Africa when the English and French attempted expansion in the 1950s for the purpose of creating further international opposition.[1] Three games were then played between the two nations on the continent but both sides viewed the matches as nothing more than friendly fixtures so never undertook the games in a serious manner and the public never subsequently took to the three exhibition games. Though rugby league was only seriously played in South Africa beginning in the 1950s, the sport was not unknown to South Africans prior to that decade; for example, a number of notable black and Coloured rugby union players, such as David Barends, Green Vigo, and Enslin Dlambulo, code-switched from union to league and moved overseas, in part because of the allure of professionalism, while also escaping the apartheid regime.[2]

Over the next several years, rugby league lay dormant in South Africa and it was not until the 1960s when talks of creating a national side began. After much discussion within South Africa, it was eventually agreed for a national side to play a touring Great Britain and then undertake a tour of Australasia. The first South African national side played their first competitive fixture on 23 August 1962 and put on a good showing against the much stronger British but eventually lost by nineteen points 49–30. The following two fixtures turned out to be much the same with the South Africans being defeated on another two occasions but putting in good performances whilst never being comprehensively beaten. The South Africans embarked on their first tour eleven months later with a twenty-four-man squad that included several former Springboks. The tour started with several friendly fixtures against various minor representative sides where they gained two comfortable victories; the first international fixture of the tour took place in Brisbane against the world champion Australians and the South Africans performed with courage but eventually lost the match 34–6. The following test was played a week later in Sydney that again saw the team put in a tough effort but lost again 54–21. South Africa left Australia without an international win and be low on confidence heading to New Zealand to play a sole fixture against the New Zealand national side whom were expected to win comfortably. However, the match turned out to be a tough encounter and surprisingly saw the team gain its first international victory 4–3[3] The South Africans featured several Australian players bought in to cover injuries and improve the quality of the side and so the match against New Zealand is not counted as a test match.[4]

IRL Men's World Rankings
Official rankings as of 27 July 2023
Rank	Change	Team	Pts %
1		Australia	100.00
2		New Zealand	92.00
3		Samoa	86.00
4		England	80.00
5		Tonga	56.00
6		Papua New Guinea	45.00
7		Fiji	45.00
8		Lebanon	36.00
9		France	33.00
10	5	Serbia	25.00
11	1	Wales	23.00
12	1	Ireland	23.00
13	1	Cook Islands	20.00
14		Italy	17.00
15	2	Jamaica	15.00
16		Greece	14.00
17		Scotland	14.00
18		Netherlands	13.00
19		Malta	11.00
20		Turkey	11.00
21		Germany	6.00
22	1	Chile	6.00
23	1	Nigeria	6.00
24	2	Ghana	6.00
25	3	Brazil	6.00
26	1	South Africa	6.00
27		Czech Republic	5.00
28		Ukraine	4.00
29	1	Poland	3.00
30	1	Cameroon	3.00
31	1	Kenya	3.00
32	1	Spain	3.00
33	4	Philippines	3.00
34	1	Norway	2.00
35	1	Bulgaria	2.00
36		Colombia	2.00
37	1	United States	1.00
38	1	Montenegro	1.00
39	1	Solomon Islands	1.00
40	3	Hungary	1.00
41	1	Sweden	1.00
42	1	Morocco	1.00
43	1	Canada	1.00
44	1	Japan	1.00
45	5	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0.00
46		Vanuatu	0.00
47		El Salvador	0.00
48		Belgium	0.00
49	2	Argentina	0.00
50	1	Denmark	0.00
51	1	Latvia	0.00
Complete rankings at INTRL.SPORT

After this first string of international fixtures the South Africans became disheartened after only winning four of the thirteen tour matches and rugby league again lay dormant for decades.

The Rugby League World Cup tournament had been scheduled to be held in France in 1965, this time with the inclusion of the South African team.[5] However the tournament was abandoned.

The early 1990s saw new South African administrators begin to rebuild the international facet of South African rugby. During 1992, the South African national side again played for the first time in years against several combined African representative teams and the following years saw things look more promising for the Africans with their qualification into the 1995 World Cup and more regularity in international fixtures. Their first World Cup saw the South Africans seeded into the toughest group of the competition containing Australia, England and Fiji. The South Africans found their three group matches extremely difficult and failed to win a match during the tournament.

• Tyler Thomas
• Darren O'Donovan
• Will Smith
• Byron Hutchinson
• Juan Benadie
• Coby Thomas
• Kamren Cryer
• Joel Tubbs
• Hugo de Villiers
• Zach van Loggerenberg
• Shane Gillham
• Seth Buckley
• Marcelle Viljoen
• Johannes Erasmus van Zyl
• Jason King
• Garry Bautz
• Chelsea Michael Adams
• Andre-Carl Joubert
• Tjaart Van Der Walt
• Ash Bull
• Jason Cutler
• Louis Musson
• Bevan De Vries
• Keegan Turner
• Jackson Frei
• Mitchell Frei
• Brendan Frei
• Edward Proudler
• Ayden Perry
• Jonathan Soares
• Allan Kasselman
• Jean Coetzer
• Robin Howell
• Stephanus Esterhuyse
• Jean-Charl Smith
• Damian Diedricks
• Gideon Mzembe
• Joshua Hill
• Skye Adams

Since rugby league has been known to the nation of South Africa since the 1950s many players of South African birth or heritage have gone on to attain notability in representing either South Africa, other nations or appearing in major domestic leagues around the world, some of the more notable South Africans have included:

• Below is a list of test matches played by the South Africa XIII up until 22 July 2023.[13]

Country	Matches	Won	Drawn	Lost	Win%	For	Aga	Diff
Australia	3	0	0	3	0%	33	174	–141
Brazil	1	1	0	0	100%	82	0	+82
Canada	1	1	0	0	100%	36	22	+14
Cook Islands	1	0	0	1	0%	6	66	–60
England	1	0	0	1	0%	0	46	–46
Fiji	1	0	0	1	0%	6	52	–46
France	2	0	0	2	0%	23	86	–63
Great Britain	3	0	0	3	0%	86	133	–47
Italy	3	2	0	1	66.67%	144	44	+100
Jamaica	2	0	0	2	0%	28	70	–42
Lebanon	2	0	0	2	0%	28	90	–62
Malta	1	1	0	0	100%	30	24	+6
New Zealand	1	1	0	0	100%	4	3	+1
Niue	3	0	0	3	0%	26	142	–116
Papua New Guinea	1	0	0	1	0%	0	16	–16
Philippines	2	2	0	0	100%	104	42	+62
Poland	1	1	0	0	100%	38	16	+22
Russia	2	0	0	2	0%	45	52	–7
Tonga	1	0	0	1	0%	18	66	–48
United States	1	0	0	1	0%	4	40	–36
Wales	1	0	0	1	0%	12	40	–28
Total	34	9	0	25	26.47%	753	1224	–471

• Rugby league in South Africa
• South African Rugby League
• Rugby league in Africa

• Official website