Everything about The South Africa National Rugby League Team totally explained
The
South Africa national rugby league team are a growing force in Rugby League, South Africa competes sporadically against other international nations because of their location and their absence from any major international competitions. They are the
thirtieth-ranked team in the world currently, only slightly behind
Estonia,
Japan and
Morocco in the world rankings. South Africa to date have competed at two
Rugby League World Cups in
1995 and
2000 but to date have failed to win the competition.
Rugby league was originally introduced to South Africa in the
1950s with the staging of several series tournaments within the country that saw fixtures between the
English and the
French however this concept failed to generate the needed interest and wasn't upheld. The South Africans wouldn't see further international rugby league until the
1960s where the first national side undertook fixtures against the visiting
British and a tour to
Australia. From the 1960s onwards the international fixture list for the South Africans would be minimal and it wouldn't be until the early
1990s when they'd begin to play with some lasting regularity.
Since they began playing international rugby league South Africa have always found it difficult to compete against the more established nations and so progress and improvement have been slow. Possibly their greatest achievement to date has been the qualification and participation in two
World Cups in both
1995 and
2000 where South Africa would unfortunately fail to win a fixture after being seeded in tough groups at both tournaments where they'd have to play world champions
Australia along with
England,
Fiji,
France,
Papua New Guinea and
Tonga.
South Africa traditionally play in a predominately
green uniform with
black shorts, they've commonly been referred to as
The Rhinos since the early 1990s. The South African emblem is a red and yellow
King Protea plant which is the national flower of South Africa. South African internationals are played at a variety of venues throughout the country with no singular home ground being used.
History
Rugby league would first gain attention in South Africa when the
English and
French would attempt expansion in the
1950s for the purpose of creating further international opposition. Three games would then be 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.
Over the next several years rugby league would lay dormant in South Africa and it wasn't until the
1960s where talks of creating a national side began. After much discussion within South Africa it was eventually agreed that a national side would play a touring
Great Britain and then undertake a tour of
Australasia. The first South African national side would play their first competitive fixture on
August 23 1962 and would put on a good showing against the much stronger British but would eventually lose by nineteen points 49-30. The following two fixtures would turn 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 would embark on their first tour eleven months later with a twenty-four man squad that included several former
Springboks. The tour would start with several friendly fixtures against various minor representative sides where they'd gain two comfortable victories, the first international fixture of the tour would take place in Brisbane against the world champion Australians and the South Africans would perform with courage but eventually lose 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 would lose again 54-21. South Africa would leave Australia without an international win and be low on confidence heading to
New Zealand to play a sole fixture against the
All Golds 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.
After this first string of international fixtures the South Africans would become disheartened after only winning four of the thirteen tour matches and rugby league would again lay dormant for decades.
The early
1990s would see new South African administrators begin to rebuild the international facet of South African rugby. During 1992 the South African national side would again play for the first time in years against several combined African representative teams and the following years would see 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 would see the South Africans seeded into the toughest group of the competition containing
Australia,
England and
Fiji. The South Africans would find their three group matches extremely difficult and would fail to win a match during the tournament.
The following years saw the South Africans play on an inconsistent basis against several touring sides and qualify for their second consecutive
World Cup in 2000. Leading into the tournament they were hopeful of gaining their first Cup win after being drawn into an easier yet still competitive group with
France,
Papua New Guinea and
Tonga. After initial optimism leading into the competition the South Africans would face Tonga in their first world cup fixture and be comprehensively beaten 66-18. The following world cup matches would add further disappointment and diminish all optimism the South Africans originally had with further heavy losses to both Papua New Guinea and the French.
After a second disappointing World Cup the side would again begin playing irregularly with one off fixtures over the next several years and it wouldn't be until 2006 when they'd again undertake another tour. A tour to Italy would be undertaken in June of 2006 that saw the South Africans play in two tests and a
nines competition in
Montelanico.
2007 Squad
Members of the South Africa national rugby league team have in the past been selected from the major leagues in
Australia and
Europe however in more recent times the squad has been made up solely of
domestic South African players. The most recent squad was selected for the tour to
Italy in
July of
2006.
As of June 19, 2006
South African Rugby League Players
Weldon Saayman
Rubert Jonker
Sean Rutgerson
Michael Horak
Tom Van Vollenhoven
Jamie Bloem
Jarrod Saffy
Mario Du Toit
Len Killeen
Notable players
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:
Honours
Further Information
Get more info on 'South Africa National Rugby League Team'.
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