History of rugby union matches between Ireland and South Africa

The Ireland and South Africa rugby union teams have a rivalry dating back to 1906. The Springboks of South Africa have dominated their early meetings, with the Irish winning just once prior to 2004, but results have turned in Ireland's favour since then. In 2016, Ireland achieved their first test victory against the Springboks in South Africa with a 26-20 victory in Cape Town.

The teams' meeting on 6 November 2010 was the first Ireland Test at their new home of Aviva Stadium, where Ireland lost 23-21.

2004 Ireland rugby union tour of South Africa[]

Ireland travelled to South Africa in June 2004, having won their first Triple Crown since 1985, and beaten the champions of the 2003 Rugby World Cup, England in their first home game since the final.^[1] As a result, the Irish manager, Eddie O'Sullivan, was confident that Ireland would achieve their first win over South Africa in 39 years, their only previous victory having come in Dublin in 1965.

By contrast, South Africa had just changed their coach to Jake White and he had radically changed the team for his first test since taking charge of the Springboks. The first of the two game test series was played at altitude in Bloemfontein and South Africa eventually won the match 31-17, despite the scores being level at 11-all at half time.^[2]

The second match was played in the Newlands Stadium in Cape Town, and was a closer affair. However, South Africa maintained their unbeaten record against Ireland on home soil by winning 26-17.^[3]

2004 Autumn Internationals[]

The two teams were to meet again in November 2004 when South Africa toured the UK and Ireland, playing each of the home nations. In the lead-up to the match, South African coach Jake White provided additional motivation to the Irish team by publicly repeating his statement from earlier in the year that "only three Irish players would be good enough to get onto the South African team".^[4]

The game's only try was scored in controversial circumstances by Irish fly-half Ronan O'Gara. In the 21st minute, New Zealand referee Paul Honiss awarded Ireland a penalty inside the South African 22 and told John Smit to go and talk to his players regarding their repeated infringements at the break-down. While Smit's back was turned and the Springbok players were being called into a huddle, O'Gara took a quick tap and ran in for five points. John Smit protested but the try stood. O'Gara missed the conversion, but was to make up for it with a drop goal from 35 meters 12 minutes later. Percy Montgomery put the first points on the board for South Africa on 26 minutes, but missed a second effort shortly afterwards. Ireland led 8-3 at the break.

O'Gara continued his success with the boot three minutes after the start of the second half with a penalty to stretch the Irish lead to 11-3. Montgomery quickly responded in kind, but shortly afterwards Schalk Burger was sin-binned for the second week in a row, which allowed Ronan O'Gara to increase the Irish lead to 14-6. A late tackle on Irish skipper Brian O'Driscoll allowed O'Gara to increase the margin between the teams to 17-6. Percy Montgomery landed two more penalties, but Ireland hung on to win only their second victory over the Springboks, 17-12.^[5][6]

John Smit claims that Paul Honiss approached him after the match to apologise for the mistake regarding Ronan O'Gara’s try. A few months after the incident Paul Honiss apologised publicly on South African radio for his mistake.^[7]

2006 Autumn Internationals[]

On Saturday, November the 11th, 2006, the Springboks came to Lansdowne Road with an experimental side, including three debutants in the back three. The team was selected by head coach Jake White as a way of blooding players for the 2007 Rugby World Cup, and South Africa's urgent need to develop new players in the lead up to that tournament. By contrast, Ireland's coach, Eddie O'Sullivan chose Ireland's strongest available team, hoping to take a prized southern hemisphere scalp and boost his team's morale.

The day of the match was a clear, wintry day, but as the late kick off time of 5pm approached, the infamous 'swirling winds of Lansdowne Road' began to blow. South Africa won the toss and chose to play into the wind in the first half, starting the game with a fine display of running rugby. On their first visit to the Irish half, they returned with points as their out half Andre Pretorius kicked a penalty into the wind. The Irish responded with a barging run by Denis Leamy who made the hard yards before passing to Ronan O'Gara, who then passed back inside to Andrew Trimble who found his way over for Ireland's first points.

From there, Ireland scored two more tries and ended the first half 22-3 ahead. South Africa played better in the second half and debutant winger François Steyn showed good pace to score in the corner, but out half Andre Pretorius failed to convert the try. Bryan Habana who usually plays at winger, but who played this match in the position of outside center, showed his speed and guile by scoring a remarkable solo try. Any thoughts of a South African revival were stamped out when Girvan Dempsey set up Shane Horgan for a try in the 76th minute. Ronan O'Gara scored the last points of the match with the conversion for a final score of 32-15.^[8][9]

For the 2006 November Test against Ireland the Springboks wore an exact replica of the jersey that was worn by the touring side captained by Paul Roos in 1906. It was on this tour that the name 'Springboks' was coined. The kit consisted of a green jersey with a white collar, blue shorts and blue socks. Sponsors Sasol did not appear on the jersey. The strip was a part of South African rugby's centenary celebrations.

Summary[]

Overall[]

Records[]

Note: Date shown in brackets indicates when the record was or last set.

Results[]

No.	Date	Venue	Score	Winner	Competition
1	24 November 1906	Balmoral Showgrounds, Belfast	12–15	South Africa	1906–07 South Africa rugby union tour of Europe
2	30 November 1912	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	0–38	South Africa	1912–13 South Africa rugby union tour of Europe
3	19 December 1931	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	3–8	South Africa	1931–32 South Africa rugby union tour of Britain and Ireland
4	8 December 1951	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	5–17	South Africa	1951–52 South Africa rugby union tour of Europe
5	17 December 1960	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	3–8	South Africa	1960–61 South Africa rugby union tour of Europe
6	13 May 1961	Newlands, Cape Town	24–8	South Africa	1961 Ireland rugby union tour of South Africa
7	10 April 1965	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	9–6	Ireland	1965 South Africa rugby union tour of Scotland and Ireland
8	10 January 1970	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	8–8	draw	1969–70 South Africa rugby union tour of Britain and Ireland
9	30 May 1981	Newlands, Cape Town	23–15	South Africa	1981 Ireland rugby union tour of South Africa
10	6 June 1981	King's Park, Durban	12–10	South Africa
11	13 June 1998	Vodacom Park, Bloemfontein	37–13	South Africa	1998 Ireland rugby union tour of South Africa
12	20 June 1998	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria	33–0	South Africa
13	28 November 1998	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	13–27	South Africa	1998 South Africa rugby union tour of Britain and Ireland
14	19 November 2000	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	18–28	South Africa	2000 end-of-year test
15	12 June 2004	Vodacom Park, Bloemfontein	31–17	South Africa	2004 Ireland rugby union tour of South Africa
16	19 June 2004	Newlands, Cape Town	26–17	South Africa
17	13 November 2004	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	17–12	Ireland	2004 end-of-year test
18	11 November 2006	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	32–15	Ireland	2006 end-of-year test
19	28 November 2009	Croke Park, Dublin	15–10	Ireland	2009 end-of-year test
20	6 November 2010	Aviva Stadium, Dublin	21–23	South Africa	2010 end-of-year test
21	10 November 2012	Aviva Stadium, Dublin	12–16	South Africa	2012 end-of-year test
22	8 November 2014	Aviva Stadium, Dublin	29–15	Ireland	2014 end-of-year test
23	11 June 2016	Newlands, Cape Town	20–26	Ireland	2016 Ireland rugby union tour of South Africa
24	18 June 2016	Ellis Park, Johannesburg	32–26	South Africa
25	25 June 2016	Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth	19–13	South Africa
26	11 November 2017	Aviva Stadium, Dublin	38–3	Ireland	2017 end-of-year test

List of series[]

Year	Ireland	South Africa	Series winner
1981	0	2	South Africa
1998	0	2	South Africa
2004	0	2	South Africa
2016	1	2	South Africa

References[]

External links[]

• "Pick and Go Test match results database". lassen.co.nz. Retrieved 2008-11-25.