SA Rugby warned supporters and consumers against buying any Springbok apparel from online outlets who pass themselves off as “official” but end up scamming fans. Authentic Springbok supporters wear is only available online from a number of legitimate websites, such as www.sarugbyshop.co.za, on the digital platforms of well-known retailers such as Sportsmans Warehouse, Totalsports and Studio88, and established online retailers such as www.superbalist.com. “We’ve seen many websites pop up online calling themselves ‘official’ to get on the Springbok bandwagon, but they never...

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber named all four scrumhalves in the Springbok squad in the match-23 to face Romania as he spread the playing load for the team’s second Pool B Rugby World Cup clash on Sunday, when Bongi Mbonambi will lead the team in Bordeaux. Cobus Reinach will start at scrumhalf, with Jaden Hendrikse providing cover off the replacements’ bench, while Grant Williams shows his versatility by starting on the right wing. Faf de Klerk will provide flyhalf cover from the bench in a split of five forwards and three backs. The only player in the starting XV that continues...

Springbok hooker Malcolm Marx has been ruled out of the remainder of the Rugby World Cup in France with a long-term knee injury. Marx, who was not included in Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber’s matchday squad to face Romania in Bordeaux on Sunday, went down at training on Wednesday after having his knee caught in contact. With the Springboks having the luxury of an enlarged 33-man squad in France for the international showpiece, and sufficient cover at hooker within the squad, he will not be replaced in the squad at this stage. “First and foremost, we are extremely disappointed for...

Springbok hooker Malcolm Marx has been ruled out of the remainder of the Rugby World Cup in France with a long-term knee injury. Marx, who was not included in Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber’s matchday squad to face Romania in Bordeaux on Sunday, went down at training on Wednesday after having his knee caught in contact. With the Springboks having the luxury of an enlarged 33-man squad in France for the international showpiece, and sufficient cover at hooker within the squad, he will not be replaced in the squad at this stage. “First and foremost, we are extremely disappointed for...

Springbok flyhalf Handre Pollard will join the national team in Paris on Monday after being called into the squad to fill the vacancy created by hooker Malcolm Marx, who was ruled out of the Rugby World Cup in France earlier this week due to a knee injury. The inclusion of Pollard, who returned to the field on Friday for English club Leicester after a calf injury ruled him out of contention for selection for the RWC squad, brings the full complement of players in the team back to 33. Pollard, who was a member of the 2019 Rugby World Cup-winning team in Japan, spent some time in...

The Springboks sometimes fizzed and sometimes ground their way to a 76-0 (half-time 33-0) victory over a brave but ultimately outclassed Romania in their second Rugby World Cup Pool B match in Bordeaux on Sunday. The Springboks scored 12 tries – with hat-tricks for Cobus Reinach and Makazole Mapimpi and a brace for Grant Williams – and increased their points' difference for the tournament to 91. They moved on to nine log points from scoring a try-scoring bonus point in this match to add to their opening round victory over Scotland (18-3). The match was played in slippery underfoot...

Pollard joins Boks; Etzebeth declared fit for Ireland Handre Pollard reported for duty at the Springbok camp in Paris on Monday as the national coaches began to put the building blocks in place for their important Rugby World Cup Pool B encounter against Ireland on Saturday. However, South Africa’s Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus made it clear that Pollard would have to get back up to speed with the team’s training sessions before he is selected to play. “Handre has joined us, but he won’t come in (the selection mix) immediately unless we have injuries,” said Erasmus. “He only...

Nienaber makes wholesale changes for Ireland clash Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber made 13 personnel changes and a positional switch as well as naming a seven-one split in favour of the forwards on the replacements’ bench for Saturday’s third Rugby World Cup pool encounter against Ireland. Nine players who sat out Sunday’s 76-0 win over Romania return to the starting line-up while four others move from the bench to the starting XV for another pivotal encounter in the Pool B ‘Group of Death’. The two players to retain their places in the run-on team are Bongi Mbonambi (hooker) and...

A monumental contest between the two teams rated the best in the world went down to an achingly narrow wire as Ireland edged a seismic Rugby World Cup Pool B clash 13-8 (halftime 7-3) at the Stade de France in Paris on Sunday night. The crowd of 78 542 was glued to the edge of its collective seat as the teams slugged themselves to a virtual standstill with the game-deciding moment coming in the 76th minute with a second scrum penalty deep in the Bok territory to provide enough daylight for Ireland to edge home. Replacement Jack Crowley drilled it through the middle to add to...

Handre Pollard will play his first Test since August 2022 and Marco van Staden will wear the No 16 jersey as replacement hooker for the first time when the Springboks meet Tonga in Marseille on Sunday, as coach Jacques Nienaber rotated his starting team for their final Rugby World Cup pool match. The outcome of this match will be crucial in determining which two teams from Pool B advance to the quarter-finals, and who they will play in the top-eight playoff. Nienaber made 12 changes to the starting team from the one which played Ireland, retaining forwards Siya Kolisi – who will...

The Springboks are expecting a “brutal” battle against Tonga in their final Rugby World Cup pool match in Marseille on Sunday, and have emphasised the importance of being accurate on attack and defence to book a place in the quarter-finals. The Boks are second on the log in Pool B on 10 points, four behind Ireland who lead the group on 14 points. Tonga are in fourth place without any points after suffering defeats against Ireland and Scotland – two of the strongest teams in the pool on the world rankings – but the Boks are not leaving anything to chance to book their place in the...

Springbok assistant coach Mzwandile Stick brushed aside all talk of a possible Rugby World Cup quarter-final spot at the team’s media briefing on Saturday and said their sole focus was defeating Tonga on Sunday and trying to earn a bonus point in the process as they attempt to keep their fate in their own hands in their final pool match. If the Springboks win the match with a bonus point, they will be in a good position to advance to the quarter-final stages regardless of the other results in the remaining Pool B matches, and Stick stressed that was their main objective in their...

The Springboks all but guaranteed their place in the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals – barring a mathematical miracle for Scotland – by edging their way to a 49-18 victory (halftime 21-8) over a feisty Tonga on a balmy evening at the Stade de Marseille on Sunday. The Boks’ 31-point margin of victory ­– allied to a bonus point for scoring four tries – means that for Scotland and Ireland to go through at South Africa's expense, the former needs to beat the latter by 21 points while Ireland score four tries in defeat. In that scenario, all three teams would have 15 log points;...

Lukhanyo Am, a member of the Springboks’ 2019 Rugby World Cup winning team, has been called into the 2023 squad as an injury replacement for wing Makazole Mapimpi who suffered a fractured cheekbone in Sunday’s 49-18 victory over Tonga. Mapimpi is expected to be out of action for four to six weeks. Am will join the squad in Toulon this week, having returned to training on his rehabilitation from a knee injury suffered in the 24-13 victory win over Argentina in Buenos Aires on 5 August. The 29-year-old centre missed out on squad selection because of the injury having appeared in the...

Springbok scrumhalf Faf de Klerk said the possible return of French captain Antoine Dupont to the hosts’ team for their Rugby World Cup quarter-final on Sunday won’t change the Boks’ approach to a match which the team has billed as “massive” as the competition reached the knock-out stage this week. Dupont was injured in France’s pool game against Namibia a few weeks ago when he fractured his cheekbone, but the French Rugby Federation said on Monday that their captain had been given the green light to return to training following surgery. The Springboks arrived in Paris on Monday...

"I was in grade seven. I was in my pyjamas in the TV room of the boarding house."South Africa centre Jesse Kriel on where he was when the Springboks won Rugby World Cup 2007 "Everyone gets up at three or five o’clock in the morning. People who are sick come alive when we win games. We’ve just got to make sure that we not only play for a certain quarter-final, we just play for our own people - young kids, people in the village - it means a lot to them."Fiji kicking coach Seremaia Bai explains what the quarter-final against England means back home "I think it will be a one-week holiday in...

  Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber named an experienced team – including 15 players who featured in the 2019 final – for their Rugby World Cup quarter-final against France at the Stade de France in Paris on Sunday evening. A further four players in the 23 to face the in-form hosts were also part of the 2019 squad while only four were not present in Japan among a team bristling with experience. “Most of these players have Rugby World Cup experience and several of them were involved in the 2019 final, so they know what it takes to perform in big moments,” said Nienaber. “Twenty...

PARIS - Comments from South Africa head coach Jacques Nienaber and captain Siya Kolisi after the announcement of their team to play France in the quarter-finals at Stade de France on Sunday, 15 October. Jacques Nienaber, head coach On the 5-3 split on the bench, plus selections at nine and eight: “If it’s 8-0, 7-1, 6-2, 5-3, it falls under team selection. We have selected a team, irrespective of the bench, that we think will give us the best opportunity of a victory on Sunday. “If we select Cobus [Reinach] or Faf [de Klerk], I don’t think there would be a lot of raised eyebrows. France...

Controversially, Bobby elected not to choose any South African players Former Springboks legend and 2007 Rugby World Cup winner, Bobby Skinstad, has spoken with rugby news platform, RugbyPass, to reveal which players would form his ultimate Rugby World Cup XV. However, in his own words, he has "controversially" chosen zero South Africans on account of them being, in his view, typically head and shoulders above players from other nations. Skinstad made his picks using RugbyPass' Rugby World Cup Ultimate XV player picker - an online tool the site specifically built to coincide...