South Africa national rugby league team

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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^{[citation needed]} 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]

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 Australia and New Zealand 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.

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.^[6] After initial optimism leading into the competition the South Africans faced Tonga in their first world cup fixture and be comprehensively beaten 66–18.^[7] The following world cup matches added further disappointment and diminish all optimism the South Africans originally had with further heavy losses to both Papua New Guinea^[8] and the French.^[9]

After a second disappointing World Cup the side again began playing irregularly with one off fixtures over the next several years and it was not until 2006 when they again undertook another tour. A tour to Italy was undertaken in June 2006, which saw the South Africans play in two tests and a nines competition in Montelanico.

In 2008, the South Africa Rhinos were scheduled to participate in the 2008 Rugby League World Cup Qualifiers in the Atlantic pool also featuring the USA, Japan and the West Indies. The winner of the tournament entered into the repecharge round for the chance to qualify for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup. South Africa withdrew alongside the West Indies due to financial reasons, leaving the tournament as a one off fixture between the US and Japan. As a result of their withdrawal South Africa forfeited the opportunity to qualify for the World Cup.

In 2011 however, the South Africa national rugby league team participated in the Atlantic Qualification Tournament as part of the 2013 Rugby League World Cup Qualifiers. The winner of the tournament qualified for the 2013 Rugby League World Cup that is to be held in England and Wales. Despite beating Canada 36–22 in a warm-up match before the beginning of the tournament,^[10] South Africa nevertheless lost to USA 40–4 in the opening match of the tournament.^[11]

In 2015 South Africa were confirmed to take on Lebanon in a one-off 2017 Rugby League World Cup qualifier in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. However the match was shifted to a two match playoff in Pretoria, South Africa due to a controversial arrest of the leader of UAE rugby league who was in charge of organizing the initial match at the Dubai Sports City complex.^[12]

Squad announced for the 2026 World Cup qualification playoff against  Cook Islands in November 2025.

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

Results

Source:^[14]
Matches marked with a † are not full internationals test match and thus do not count towards international statistics and ranking points.
Common reasons for games not classifying as test matches are because the opponent is not a member of the IRL or is not the senior first team of a member nation, or the game was played with modified rules.

More information Date, Team 1 ...

Date	Team 1	Score	Team 2	Competition	Venue	Attendance	Ref.
23 August 1962	South Africa	30–49	Great Britain	1962 Great Britain Lions tour	Pretoria	Unknown
25 August 1962	South Africa	33–39	Great Britain		Durban	Unknown
31 August 1962	South Africa	23–45	Great Britain		Johannesburg	Unknown
7 July 1963	Northern Division	20–10 †	South Africa	1963 South Africa Rhinos tour	Tamworth	Unknown
10 July 1963	Monaro	2–41 †	South Africa		Canberra	Unknown
13 July 1963	Sydney	49–5 †	South Africa		Sydney	Unknown
16 July 1963	Queensland	32–18 †	South Africa		Brisbane	Unknown
20 July 1963	Australia	34–6	South Africa		Lang Park, Brisbane	10,210
24 July 1963	South Queensland	30–21 †	South Africa		Brisbane	Unknown
27 July 1963	Australia	54–21	South Africa		Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney	16,995
28 July 1963	Newcastle	27–17 †	South Africa		Newcastle	Unknown
30 July 1963	Parramatta Eels	39–18 †	South Africa		Sydney	Unknown
1 August 1963	Wellington	12–21 †	South Africa		Wellington	Unknown
3 August 1963	South Island	12–8 †	South Africa		Christchurch	+-2500	[15]
7 August 1963	Auckland	10–4 †	South Africa		Auckland	Unknown
10 August 1963	New Zealand	3–4 †[a]	South Africa		Carlaw Park, Auckland	Unknown
Rugby league banned in South Africa
13 November 1992	South Africa	26–30	Commonwealth of Independent States	1992 CIS tour of South Africa	Johannesburg	Unknown
20 November 1992	South Africa	19–22	Commonwealth of Independent States		Pretoria	Unknown
8 October 1995	Fiji	52–6	South Africa	1995 World Cup	Cougar Park, Keighley	4,845
10 October 1995	Australia	86–6	South Africa		Gateshead International Stadium, Gateshead	9,181
14 October 1995	England	46–0	South Africa		Headingley Rugby Stadium, Leeds	14,041
6 December 1997	France	30–17	South Africa	Friendly	Arles	Unknown
19 October 2000	South Africa	12–40	Wales	Friendly	Pretoria	Unknown
28 October 2000	Tonga	66–18	South Africa	2000 World Cup	Stade Sébastien Charléty, Paris	7,498
2 November 2000	Papua New Guinea	16–0	South Africa		Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse	4,313
5 November 2000	France	56–6	South Africa		Stadium Municipal d'Albi, Albi	7,969
9 October 2004	South Africa	22–50	West Indies	Friendly	London	Unknown	[17]
8 June 2006	Great Britain Amateurs	34–14 †	South Africa	Friendly	Stadio Simone Franchini, Monselice	Unknown	[18]
12 June 2006	Italy	6–76	South Africa	Two-match series friendly	Rome	Unknown
13 June 2006	Italy	20–60	South Africa		Rome	Unknown
9 June 2007	Great Britain Amateurs	30–12 †	South Africa	Two-match series friendly	Unknown	Unknown
16 June 2007	Great Britain Amateurs	42–10 †	South Africa		Unknown	Unknown
17 October 2008	Great Britain Amateurs	42–4 †	South Africa	Friendly	Unknown	Unknown
9 October 2011	Canada	36–22	South Africa	Friendly	Fletcher's Field, Markham, Ontario	1,005	[19]
15 October 2011	United States	40–4	South Africa	2013 World Cup: Atlantic Qualifiers	Philadelphia	~300
19 October 2011	Jamaica	20–6	South Africa			Unknown
2 May 2015	Niue	48–4	South Africa	Friendly	Leumeah	Unknown
25 October 2015	South Africa	12–40	Lebanon	2017 World Cup: Middle East-Africa Qualifiers	Brakpan Stadium, Pretoria	Unknown
31 October 2015	South Africa	16–50	Lebanon			Unknown
29 October 2016	South Africa	22–55	Niue	Two-match series friendly	Brakpan Stadium, Pretoria	Unknown
11 November 2016	South Africa	0–44	Niue			Unknown
24 June 2018	South Africa	30–24	Malta	Friendly	St Mary's Stadium, Sydney	Unknown
12 October 2018	Italy	18–8	South Africa	Friendly	Kellyville Ridge Stadium, Sydney	Unknown
21 June 2019	Cook Islands	66–6	South Africa	2021 World Cup: Inter-regional Qualifiers	Wentworthville Ringrose park, NSW	78
5 June 2022	Brazil	0–82	South Africa	Friendly	Sunshine Coast Stadium, Noosa	Unknown	[20]
26 November 2022	Poland	16–38	South Africa	Friendly	Southport Tigers, Queensland	Unknown	[21]
22 July 2023	Philippines	14–72	South Africa	Friendly	Skilled Park, Gold Coast, Queensland	Unknown	[22]
28 October 2023	Italy	50–20	South Africa	Friendly	Lidcombe Oval, Sydney	Unknown	[23]
8 November 2023	South Africa	56–12	Kenya	Two-match series friendly	Grizzlies Stadium, Pretoria	Unknown	[24]
11 November 2023	South Africa	82–2	Kenya			Unknown	[25]
4 December 2024	South Africa	18–38	United States	Two-match series friendly	Quins-Bobbies Rugby Club, Pretoria
7 December 2024	South Africa	32–44	United States		Grizzlies Stadium, Pretoria
4 November 2025	Niue	34–28†	South Africa	Friendly	St Mary's Stadium, Sydney
9 November 2025	Cook Islands	58–6	South Africa	2026 World Cup Qualification – Southern Hemisphere Playoff	Western Sydney Stadium, Sydney	3,245

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