TheIreland andSouth Africa rugby union teams have a rivalry dating back to 1906. The Springboks of South Africa dominated their early meetings, with the Irish winning just once against South Africa prior to 2004, but results have since turned in Ireland's favour. Ireland have won nine of the last fourteen test matches since they met during the 2004 Autumn internationals. Following Ireland's tour win over New Zealand in 2022, South Africa are the only major Southern Hemisphere team over which Ireland has not achieved a series victory, although in 2024 the two sides shared a series in South Africa 1-1.

2023 marked the two sides first ever Rugby World Cup meeting and first meeting on neutral soil. This was also the first occasion in which the world number one (Ireland) and world number two (South Africa) teams as perWorld Rugby Rankings, had ever met at the pool stages of a Rugby World Cup. Ireland, prevailed 13–8 over South Africa.

Along withNew Zealand, South Africa and Ireland have dominated the top rankings spot in the World Rugby international men's rankings since the mid-2010s, and meetings between any two of these three teams have been considered significant events in global rugby. In recent matches between South Africa and Ireland, in particular, the games have been noted for their closeness (only one of the eight matches since 2016 has ended with the teams more than a single score apart), and particular physical ferocity.^[1][2] While South Africa dominated the rivalry before the 1990s, since the return of South Africa to international rugby post-Apartheid, the record over 20 matches stands 11–9 to South Africa. The rivalry has been encouraged by the fact that Ireland and South Africa are also habitually the two strongest nations overall in theUnited Rugby Championship with the international rivalry replicated between the best provincial clubs in both nations.

Ireland travelled to South Africa in June 2004, having won their firstTriple Crown since 1985, and beaten the champions of the2003 Rugby World Cup,England in their first home game since the final.^[3] As a result, the Irish manager,Eddie O'Sullivan, was confident that Ireland would achieve their first win overSouth Africa in 39 years, their only previous victory having come inDublin in 1965.^[4]

By contrast,South Africa had just changed their coach toJake White and he had radically changed the team for his first test since taking charge of the Springboks. The first of the two game test series was played at altitude inBloemfontein and South Africa eventually won the match 31–17, despite the scores being level at 11-all at half time.^[5]

The second match was played in theNewlands Stadium inCape Town, and was a closer affair. However,South Africa maintained their unbeaten record againstIreland on home soil by winning 26–17.^[6]

The two teams were to meet again in November 2004 when South Africa toured theUK andIreland, playing each of the home nations. In the lead-up to the match, South African coachJake White provided additional motivation to the Irish team by publicly repeating his statement from earlier in the year that "only three Irish players would be good enough to get onto the South African team".^[7]

The game's only try was scored in controversial circumstances by Irish fly-halfRonan O'Gara. In the 21st minute, New Zealand referee Paul Honiss awarded Ireland a penalty inside the South African 22 and toldJohn Smit to go and talk to his players regarding their repeated infringements at the break-down. While Smit's back was turned and the Springbok players were being called into a huddle, O'Gara took a quick tap and ran in for five points. John Smit protested but the try stood. O'Gara missed the conversion, but was to make up for it with a drop goal from 35 meters 12 minutes later.Percy Montgomery put the first points on the board for South Africa on 26 minutes, but missed a second effort shortly afterwards. Ireland led 8–3 at the break.^{[citation needed]}

O'Gara continued his success with the boot three minutes after the start of the second half with a penalty to stretch the Irish lead to 11–3. Montgomery quickly responded in kind, but shortly afterwardsSchalk Burger was sin-binned for the second week in a row, which allowed Ronan O'Gara to increase the Irish lead to 14–6. A late tackle on Irish skipperBrian O'Driscoll allowed O'Gara to increase the margin between the teams to 17–6. Percy Montgomery landed two more penalties, but Ireland hung on to win only their second victory over the Springboks, 17–12.^[8][9]

John Smit claims that Paul Honiss approached him after the match to apologise for the mistake regarding Ronan O'Gara's try. A few months after the incident Paul Honiss apologised publicly on South African radio for his mistake.^[10]

On Saturday, 11 November 2006, theSpringboks came to Lansdowne Road with an experimental side, including three debutants in the back three. The team was selected by head coachJake White as a way of blooding players for the2007 Rugby World Cup, and South Africa's urgent need to develop new players in the lead up to that tournament. By contrast,Ireland's coach,Eddie O'Sullivan chose Ireland's strongest available team, hoping to take a prized southern hemisphere scalp and boost his team's morale.

The day of the match was a clear, wintry day, but as the late kick off time of 5pm approached, the infamous 'swirling winds ofLansdowne Road' began to blow. South Africa won the toss and chose to play into the wind in the first half, starting the game with a fine display of running rugby. On their first visit to the Irish half, they returned with points as theirout halfAndré Pretorius kicked a penalty into the wind. The Irish responded with a barging run byDenis Leamy who made the hard yards before passing toRonan O'Gara, who then passed back inside toAndrew Trimble who found his way over for Ireland's first points.

From there, Ireland scored two moretries and ended the first half 22–3 ahead. South Africa played better in the second half and debutantwingerFrançois Steyn showed good pace to score in the corner, but Pretorius failed to convert the try.Bryan Habana who usually plays atwinger, but who played this match in the position ofoutside center, showed his speed and guile by scoring a remarkable solo try. Any thoughts of a South African revival were stamped out whenGirvan Dempsey set upShane Horgan for a try in the 76th minute. Ronan O'Gara scored the last points of the match with the conversion for a final score of 32–15.^[11][12]

For the 2006 November Test against Ireland the Springboks wore an exact replica of the jersey that was worn by the touring side captained byPaul Roos in 1906. It was on this tour that the name 'Springboks' was coined. The kit consisted of a green jersey with a white collar, blue shorts and blue socks. Sponsors Sasol did not appear on the jersey. The strip was a part of South African rugby's centenary celebrations.

The teams' meeting on 6 November 2010 was the first Ireland test at their new home of Aviva Stadium, where Ireland lost 23–21.^[13]

In 2016, Ireland achieved their first test victory against the Springboks in South Africa with a 26–20 victory in Cape Town.^[14]

The two teams'first meeting at theRugby World Cup took place in the pool stage of the2023 edition on 23 September at theStade de France inSaint-Denis. The fixture, largely considered to be a decider as to who would win the pool and the number one spot in the world ranking,^[15] was won by Ireland, 8–13.^[16] Ireland then relinquished the number 1 spot when they were knocked out by New Zealand in the Quarter Finals. Meanwhile, South Africa went on to win the World Cup.

During the 2024 mid year rugby union tests, Ireland claimed their second ever test win on South African soil and split the test series 1–1 with the Springboks following a deep, match-winning drop goal fromCiarán Frawley as time expired in the second test.^[17]

No.	Date	Venue	Score	Winner	Competition	Attendance	Ref.
1	24 November 1906	Balmoral Showgrounds,Belfast	12–15	South Africa	1906–07 South Africa tour of Europe	15,000	[19]
2	30 November 1912	Lansdowne Road,Dublin	0–38	South Africa	1912–13 South Africa tour of Europe	20,000	[20]
3	19 December 1931	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	3–8	South Africa	1931–32 South Africa tour of Great Britain and Ireland	35,000	[21]
4	8 December 1951	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	5–17	South Africa	1951–52 South Africa tour of Europe	47,000	[22]
5	17 December 1960	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	3–8	South Africa	1960–61 South Africa tour of Europe	40,000	[23]
6	13 May 1961	Newlands Stadium,Cape Town	24–8	South Africa	1961 Ireland tour of South Africa	35,000	[24]
7	10 April 1965	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	9–6	Ireland	1965 South Africa tour of Scotland and Ireland	30,000	[25]
8	10 January 1970	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	8–8	draw	1969–70 South Africa tour of Great Britain and Ireland	28,000	[26]
9	30 May 1981	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town	23–15	South Africa	1981 Ireland tour of South Africa	37,000	[27]
10	6 June 1981	Kings Park Stadium,Durban	12–10	South Africa		38,600	[28]
11	13 June 1998	Free State Stadium,Bloemfontein	37–13	South Africa	1998 Ireland tour of South Africa	26,000	[29]
12	20 June 1998	Loftus Versfeld Stadium,Pretoria	33–0	South Africa		34,850	[30]
13	28 November 1998	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	13–27	South Africa	1998 South Africa tour of Great Britain and Ireland	48,000	[31]
14	19 November 2000	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	18–28	South Africa	2000 Autumn International	50,000	[32]
15	12 June 2004	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein	31–17	South Africa	2004 Ireland tour of South Africa	37,243	[33]
16	19 June 2004	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town	26–17	South Africa		45,000	[34]
17	13 November 2004	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	17–12	Ireland	2004 Autumn International	48,500	[35]
18	11 November 2006	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	32–15	Ireland	2006 Autumn International	43,000	[36]
19	28 November 2009	Croke Park, Dublin	15–10	Ireland	2009 Autumn International	74,950	[37]
20	6 November 2010	Aviva Stadium, Dublin	21–23	South Africa	2010 Autumn International	35,517	[38]
21	10 November 2012	Aviva Stadium, Dublin	12–16	South Africa	2012 Autumn International	49,781	[39]
22	8 November 2014	Aviva Stadium, Dublin	29–15	Ireland	2014 Autumn International	51,100	[40]
23	11 June 2016	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town	20–26	Ireland	2016 Ireland tour of South Africa	42,640	[41]
24	18 June 2016	Ellis Park Stadium,Johannesburg	32–26	South Africa		58,400	[42]
25	25 June 2016	Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium,Port Elizabeth	19–13	South Africa		42,324	[43]
26	11 November 2017	Aviva Stadium, Dublin	38–3	Ireland	2017 Autumn International	51,700	[44]
27	5 November 2022	Aviva Stadium, Dublin	19–16	Ireland	2022 Autumn International	51,700	[45]
28	23 September 2023	Stade de France,Saint-Denis,France	8–13	Ireland	2023 Rugby World Cup	78,750	[46]
29	6 July 2024	Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria	27–20	South Africa	2024 Ireland tour of South Africa	50,066	[47]
30	13 July 2024	Kings Park Stadium, Durban	24–25	Ireland		52,000	[48]
31	22 November 2025	Aviva Stadium, Dublin	13–24	South Africa	2025 Autumn International	51,700	[49]

Year	Ireland	South Africa	Series winner
1981	0	2	South Africa
1998	0	2	South Africa
2004	0	2	South Africa
2016	1	2	South Africa
2024	1	1	draw

• Ireland national rugby union team matches
• South Africa national rugby union team matches
• Ireland–South Africa sports relations

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