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 World Rankings
Official Men's Rankings as of November 2019
Rank	Change*	Team	Pts%
1	2	New Zealand
2	1	Australia
3	1	England
4		Tonga
5		Fiji
6	4	Papua New Guinea
7		Samoa
8	2	France
9	1	Scotland
10	1	Lebanon
11	5	Greece
12		Ireland
13	1	Italy
14	3	Wales
15	4	Serbia
16	1	Malta
17	1	Norway
18	3	United States
19	4	Poland
20	7	Jamaica
21	1	Hungary
22	3	Czech Republic
23	5	Cook Islands
24	7	Turkey
25	1	Netherlands
26	4	Spain
27	6	Canada
28		Nigeria
29	2	Solomon Islands
30	10	Sweden
31	4	Germany
32	1	Chile
33		Ghana
34	16	Morocco
35	3	Vanuatu
36		South Africa
37	8	Russia
38		Cameroon
39	2	Ukraine
40	1	Colombia
41	4	Brazil
42		Belgium
43	4	Denmark
44	4	Bulgaria
45	4	Latvia
*Change from July 2019

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

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 18 December 2020.[13]

Country	Matches	Won	Drawn	Lost	Win%	For	Aga	Diff
Australia	3	0	0	3	%	33	174	–141
Canada	1	1	0	0	100%	36	22	+14
Cook Islands	1	0	0	1	%	6	66	–60
England	1	0	0	1	%	0	46	–46
Fiji	1	0	0	1	%	6	52	–46
France	2	0	0	2	%	23	86	–63
Great Britain	3	0	0	3	%	86	133	–47
Italy	3	2	0	1	66.67%	144	44	+100
Jamaica	2	0	0	2	%	28	70	–42
Lebanon	2	0	0	2	%	28	90	–62
Malta	1	1	0	0	100%	30	24	+6
Papua New Guinea	1	0	0	1	%	0	16	–16
New Zealand	1	1	0	0	100%	4	3	+1
Niue	3	0	0	3	%	26	142	–116
Philippines	1	1	0	0	100%	32	28	+4
Russia	2	0	0	2	%	45	52	–7
Tonga	1	0	0	1	%	18	66	–48
United States	1	0	0	1	%	4	40	–36
Wales	1	0	0	1	%	12	40	–28
Total	31	6	0	25	19.35%	561	1194	–633

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

• Official website