South Africa National Rugby League Team



The South Africa national rugby league team are a growing force in rugby league football, South Africa competes sporadically against other international nations because of their location and their absence from any major international competitions. They are ranked twenty-third in the world currently, just behind Estonia and ahead of Jamaica in the world rankings. South Africa to date have competed at two Rugby League World Cups in 1995 and 2000 but to date have failed to win the competition.

Rugby league was originally introduced to South Africa in the 1950s with the staging of several series tournaments within the country that saw fixtures between the English and the French however this concept failed to generate the needed interest and was not upheld. The South Africans would not see further international rugby league until the 1960s where the first national side undertook fixtures against the visiting British and a tour to Australia. From the 1960s onwards the international fixture list for the South Africans would be minimal and it would not be until the early 1990s when they would begin to play with some lasting regularity.

Since they began playing international rugby league South Africa have always found it difficult to compete against the more established nations and so progress and improvement have been slow. Possibly their greatest achievement to date has been the qualification and participation in two World Cups in both 1995 and 2000 where South Africa would unfortunately fail to win a fixture after being seeded in tough groups at both tournaments where they would have to play world champions Australia along with England, Fiji, France, Papua New Guinea and Tonga.

South Africa traditionally play in a predominately green uniform with black shorts, they have commonly been referred to as The Rhinos since the early 1990s. The South African emblem is a red and yellow King Protea plant which is the national flower of South Africa. South African internationals are played at a variety of venues throughout the country with no singular home ground being used.