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South Africa national rugby league team
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The South Africa national rugby league team are a growing force in Rugby League, South Africa competes sporadically against other international nations because of their location and their absence from any major international competitions. They are the thirtieth-ranked team in the world currently, only slightly behind Estonia, Japan and Morocco 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.
HistoryRugby league would first gain attention in South Africa when the English and French would attempt expansion in the 1950s for the purpose of creating further international opposition. Three games would then be played between the two nations on the continent but both sides viewed the matches as nothing more than friendly fixtures so never undertook the games in a serious manner and the public never subsequently took to the three exhibition games.
Over the next several years rugby league would lay dormant in South Africa and it was not until the 1960s where talks of creating a national side began. After much discussion within South Africa it was eventually agreed that a national side would play a touring Great Britain and then undertake a tour of Australasia. The first South African national side would play their first competitive fixture on August 23 1962 and would put on a good showing against the much stronger British but would eventually lose by nineteen points 49-30. The following two fixtures would turn out to be much the same with the South Africans being defeated on another two occasions but putting in good performances whilst never being comprehensively beaten. The South Africans would embark on their first tour eleven months later with a twenty-four man squad that included several former Springboks. The tour would start with several friendly fixtures against various minor representative sides where they would gain two comfortable victories, the first international fixture of the tour would take place in Brisbane against the world champion Australians and the South Africans would perform with courage but eventually lose the match 34-6. The following test was played a week later in Sydney that again saw the team put in a tough effort but would lose again 54-21. South Africa would leave Australia without an international win and be low on confidence heading to New Zealand to play a sole fixture against the All Golds whom were expected to win comfortably. However the match turned out to be a tough encounter and surprisingly saw the team gain its first international victory 4-3.
After this first string of international fixtures the South Africans would become disheartened after only winning four of the thirteen tour matches and rugby league would again lay dormant for decades.
The early 1990s would see new South African administrators begin to rebuild the international facet of South African rugby. During 1992 the South African national side would again play for the first time in years against several combined African representative teams and the following years would see things look more promising for the Africans with their qualification into the 1995 World Cup and more regularity in international fixtures. Their first World Cup would see the South Africans seeded into the toughest group of the competition containing Australia, England and Fiji. The South Africans would find their three group matches extremely difficult and would fail to win a match during the tournament.
The following years saw the South Africans play on an inconsistent basis against several touring sides and qualify for their second consecutive World Cup in 2000. Leading into the tournament they were hopeful of gaining their first Cup win after being drawn into an easier yet still competitive group with France, Papua New Guinea and Tonga. After initial optimism leading into the competition the South Africans would face Tonga in their first world cup fixture and be comprehensively beaten 66-18. The following world cup matches would add further disappointment and diminish all optimism the South Africans originally had with further heavy losses to both Papua New Guinea and the French.
After a second disappointing World Cup the side would again begin playing irregularly with one off fixtures over the next several years and it would not be until 2006 when they would again undertake another tour. A tour to Italy would be undertaken in June of 2006 that saw the South Africans play in two tests and a nines competition in Montelanico.
2007 SquadMembers of the South Africa national rugby league team have in the past been selected from the major leagues in Australia and Europe however in more recent times the squad has been made up solely of domestic South African players. The most recent squad was selected for the tour to Italy in July of 2006.
As of June 19, 2006
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