Rugby union in South Africa
Rugby union is a popular sport in South Africa.
In the past rugby union was considered a bastion of Afrikaanerdom, the sport is also popular with English speaking white South Africans but they often opt to represent England rather than South Africa. It is still a sport which is much more popular with white South Africans than with black South Africans.
History
Present
National teams
The Springboks
- Main article: South Africa national rugby union team
Domestic Competitions
Super 14
The Super 14 is an international provincial competition featuring teams from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. The competition, governed by SANZAR, was formed in 1996 as Super 12 after the game turned professional. The current format is five teams from both New Zealand and South Africa and four teams from Australia. Each team plays each other team once in a round robin format followed by a knockout finals series featuring the top four finishers.
Currie cup
International Competitions
Rugby World Cup
Tri Nations
The Tri-Nations is an annual competition involving New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa. Previously this involved each country playing one home and one away game against both other countries. From 2006 the competion has been expanded with each nation playing both the other nations three times.