Six Springbok facts and stats

For the match against the World XV at Newlands on Saturday.

  • The Springbok starting team boasts a total of 762 Test caps (339 in the backline and 423 in the forwards), while there are a further 248 caps worth of experience on the bench.
  • The Springboks have played three Tests against World XVs, winning all three. The score in 1977 was 45-24 and in 1989 20-19 and 22-16 respectively.
  • In those three Tests, the Springboks scored 87 points and 11 tries and conceded 59 points and nine tries for an average score of 29-20.
  • At the end of 2006, the Springboks beat a World XV 32-7 in Leicester. Test caps were not awarded. A Bok XV also beat a World XV at Ellis Park earlier that year.
  • Cornal Hendricks, the only uncapped player in the Bok team to play the World XV on Saturday, represented the Springbok Sevens from 2011-2013. While Hendricks will start at Newlands, he will not be given a Bok blazer or number until he has played in a Test (under Saru's new capping system).
  • The referee for Saturday is 37-year-old Irishman George Clancy. This will be his ninth Springbok Test as referee. The Boks have won six and lost two of these eight encounters. His last Test for South Africa was against Australia on 7 September 2013 in Brisbane, where the Boks won 38-12.

Preview: Springboks vs World XV

Photo: Rory Keohane/HSM Images

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