Fast Facts:
Players: 387,009
RWC Results: Champions, 1995, 2007, Third 1999 Quarter Finals 2003, 2011
IRB World Ranking: 2 with 90.41 points
Best Result 2014: Vs. New Zealand 27-25
Coach: Heyneke Meyer
Captain: Jean De Villiers
Stefanie (Missresincup flickr)
Culture
Rugby in South Africa comes from the British colonists. In 1861 a student from Oxford brought the sport to a college in South Africa, the boys at the college enjoyed the sport and took it back to their farms and rural communities when the holidays commenced. These tough farmers boys adapted to the physical nature of the sport very quickly and South Africa now has over 380,000 rugby players it is one of the country's most popular sports. Due to an imperial, colonial history much of South African life is entwined with politics and Race issues these also played a part in rugby's past. Rugby was traditionally a white sport in South Africa due to its emergence with the white Boers at the private schools and farms. During the apartheid there were a lot of laws and regulations that prohibited and stunted the growth of rugby in native African communities. These communities often cheered against the South African team because of their very serious rivalry with white South Africans. This all changed when Nelson Mandela came into power during the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Nelson Mandela used rugby (one of the white South Africans favourite sport) in order to bridge a gap between the different races. The team would travel to different communities in South Africa and teach underprivileged children the sport. South Africa went on to win the world cup, and although their was only one Native African in the team Mandela was largely successful. Despite this today rugby player numbers are still tilted in favour of white South Africans to balance this out the government is playing a part by instilling a "racial quota" whereby 60% of any South African squad must be native African. This is not very popular with white South Africans because it pushes the balance too far in the opposite direction and affects their favourite sport.
Play Style
South Africa use a play style that is set up to compliment their rugby culture and physique, and they excel at it. Often popular with farmers, rugby in South Africa is very traditional and they enjoy sticking to their systems allowing their forward pack to do the work and their back line to execute in order to produce a very clinical game. Additionally They are not afraid to slow the game down and have a crack at the sticks even if it is open play. In the past South African teams have struggled to bring excitement, and new dimensions to the game, which was severely limited their game against exuberant southern hemisphere rivals Australia, and New Zealand. However thanks to the successful u-20's system more and more talent is created among the South African ranks giving them an extra dimension of surprise without compromising their traditionalist, clinical game.