Rugby union in South Africa

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Rugby union in South Africa is a highly popular team sport, along with cricket and soccer, and is widely played all over the country. The national team is among the strongest in the world and has been ranked in at least the top seven of the World Rugby Rankings since its inception in 2003. The country hosted and won the 1995 Rugby World Cup, and won again in 2007, 2019 and 2023. As with much else in South Africa, the organisation and playing of rugby has been entangled with politics, and racial politics in particular.

When Canon George Ogilvie became headmaster of Diocesan College in Cape Town in 1861, he introduced the game of Winchester College football. This version of football, which included handling of the ball, is seen as the beginnings of rugby in South Africa. Soon, the young gentlemen of Cape Town joined in and the first match in South Africa took place between the "Officers of the Army" and the "Gentlemen of the Civil Service" at Green Point in Cape Town on 23 August 1862 and ended as a 0–0 draw. The local press reported a series of football matches between scratch sides "Town v Suburbs" or "Home v Colonial born". Around 1875, rugby began to be played in the Cape colony; the same year the first rugby (as opposed to Winchester football) club, Hamilton, was formed in Sea Point, Cape Town. Former England international William Henry Milton arrived in Cape Town in 1878. He joined the Villagers club and started playing and preaching rugby. By the end of that year Cape Town had all but abandoned the Winchester game in favour of rugby. The Super 10 (predecessor to Super Rugby) was won in 1993 by Transvaal but the Super Rugby competition was not won by a South African team until 2007, when South Africa provided the two finalists, the Bulls and the Sharks. The Bulls scored a last second win over the Sharks in the final. The Bulls went on to win the last two titles under the Super 14 format, handing the Chiefs of New Zealand a record 61–17 thrashing in the 2009 final and defeating the Stormers in the 2010 final.

The Currie Cup tournament has been the premier domestic rugby union in South Africa since its first edition in 1892. Since then, the number of teams participating in the competition varied in different seasons, with the Currie Cup trophy being awarded to the champions of the top tier. Other trophies, such as the Percy Frames Trophy, the W. V. Simkins Trophy and the South African Cup (currently awarded to the winners of the First Division), were also on offer.

Between 1983 and 1994, teams also competed in a knockout cup competition called the Lion Cup. There was no competition in 1995, as South African rugby adjusted to the advent of professional rugby, but in 1996, a new competition – the Bankfin Nite Series – was launched. That lasted for two seasons before being replaced by the Vodacom Cup. The Vodacom Cup was held between 1998 and 2015 and included teams from Argentina, Namibia, Kenya and the South African Limpopo province in addition to the fourteen South African provincial sides. The Vodacom Cup was discontinued in 2015 and replaced for 2016 with a one off expanded Currie Cup before its permanent replacement, the Rugby Challenge, launched in 2017. The Challenge now includes only South African sides, plus the Namibian team that had sporadically featured in the Vodacom Cup. Since 2008, the Varsity Cup is an annual tournament held between the top university club sides in South Africa. In 2011, a second tier known as the Varsity Shield was added to the schedule. Non university club sides can also compete for national honours; they compete in the annual Gold Cup competition, which was launched in 2013. It was preceded by a similar competition called the National Club Championships. There are also several youth competitions; all the provincial sides compete annually in the Under 21 and Under 19 Provincial Championships. The premier schools competition is known as the Craven Week (there are two editions of this competition – an Under 18 competition for high schools and an Under 13 competition for primary schools), and the other national youth weeks are the Under 18 Academy Week, the Under 16 Grant Khomo Week and the Under 18 LSEN Week for Learners with Special Educational Needs.

The Women's Premier Division was first played in 2003. The Bulls Daisies became the country's first professional team in 2023. The Women's First Division is the second tier competition.

South Africa did not take part in the first two World Cups, held in 1987 and 1991, as they were still under an international boycott due to apartheid. South Africa however did play an important role in the first World Cup; despite knowing that they would not be able to participate, the delegates voted in favor and provided the swing vote for the World Cup. Since then South Africa have won the World Cup four times, in 1995 in their first appearance when they also hosted the event, and again in 2007, 2019 and 2023. The 1995 tournament concluded with then President Nelson Mandela (at the time described as the world's most famous former political prisoner), wearing a Springbok jersey and matching baseball cap, presenting the trophy to the South Africa's captain François Pienaar (a young Afrikaner). Given the political history of South Africa, the moment is seen as one of the most emotional in the sport's history and symbolic of reconciliation and the birth of a new, free South Africa as a "rainbow nation". In 2007 the Springboks repeated their 1995 feat winning the 2007 World Cup by defeating England at Stade de France. In the 2011 World Cup, the Boks only managed to reach the quarter final stage where they were beaten by Australia. South Africa won the Rugby World Cup for a third time in 2019, once again defeating England, 32–12 in the final in Yokohama. South Africa won the Rugby World Cup for a fourth time in 2023, once again defeating New Zealand at Stade de France., 12–11 in the final. Upon winning the fourth time, the Springboks became the only team to have held 4 World Cup titles and only the second team to win back to back championships.

The Tri Nations was 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 competition was expanded with each nation playing both the other nations three times (except in Rugby World Cup years). Since 's strong performances in the 2007 World Cup a number of commentators believed they should join the Tri Nations. This was firstly proposed for the 2008 tournament, then for 2010, but eventually this prospect came much closer to reality after the 2009 Tri Nations tournament, when SANZAR (South Africa, New Zealand and Australian Rugby) extended an official invitation to the Unión Argentina de Rugby (UAR), to join a new revised Four Nations tournament in 2012. This long anticipated move was generally met with great approval from all parties involved. The invitation was however subject to certain conditions, like the guaranteed availability of the top Puma players, most of whom play highly paid professional club rugby in Europe at present. With Argentina's entry ultimately confirmed, the Tri Nations was renamed The Rugby Championship. The involvement of the Pumas caused the competition to revert to a pure home and away series. The Freedom Cup (against New Zealand) and the Mandela Challenge Plate (against Australia) are competed for as part of The Rugby Championship.

The Africa Cup is an annual competition involving ten African nations. South Africa sent its top amateurs to this competition up until 2007.