Springboks: Rugby World Cup records that could be broken!

The Springboks arrived in Paris on Monday afternoon in high spirits and excited about the prospect of facing France in the fourth quarter-final, which will kick off at 21h00 on Sunday evening in front of a passionate and vocal home crowd at the Stade de France.

It will be some achievement if the Springboks can all the way to win this World Cup, and here are some records that could be broken.

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SPRINGBOKS ON THE HUNT FOR ANOTHER WORLD TITLE

RECORDS BROKEN:

• South Africa extended its 28 year-long streak of advancing to at least the quarter-finals in every Rugby World Cup since their first participation in 1995.
• Handré Pollard (South Africa) entered the top 5 of the most overall points across all players and tournaments, tying for the 5th place with New Zealand’s Grant Fox at 170 points (and the potential to increase his number of points in the upcoming matches).

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RECORDS THAT COULD BE BROKEN: 

• South Africa could break its tie with New Zealand (3 titles) and become the sole holder of the record for the most titles won since RWC’s inception in 1987 if they win their 4th title – they previously won in 1995, 2007 and 2019.
• If South Africa gets to the final and wins, they would maintain their 100% win rate in final appearance since their first final in 1995, when they beat New Zealand (15-12 AET). However, if South Africa end up losing the final and finish second, they would join Australia and New Zealand as the only countries to have won all three medals (gold, silver and bronze).
• South Africa (2019 winners) could join New Zealand as just the second country to ever win successive World Cup titles if they win in 2023 (NZ won successive titles in 2011 and 2015).
• If South Africa make it to the final, they could extend their record as the only country to not have conceded at least one try during appearances in the final.

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UP FOR THE CHALLENGE

The Springboks are embracing the challenge of facing the 2023 Rugby World Cup hosts, and Bok assistant coach Daan Human and the players had no doubt it would be a top-class playoff match.

Human was thrilled about the Boks advancing to the quarter-finals after Ireland knocked Scotland out of the competition on Saturday night and said: “Our objective was to qualify for the quarter-final, so we are very happy, and we are looking forward to this week.”

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Human said both teams had improved since their encounter in Marseille in November last year in what proved to be a humdinger of a match. The hosts won 30-26 as the Boks were reduced to 14 men early in the game due to a red card and added that it was difficult to single out their strengths as a team.

“I think they are better than last year, but so are we,” said Human.

“If you train hard, you’ll naturally get better as a team. But just as they believe in themselves, we believe in our players as well.”

When quizzed about France’s strengths, the former Springbok and Toulouse prop said: “They are strong in every department. That’s why they are the No 2 team in the world. They also won all four pool games and did very well against New Zealand, so there isn’t one area one can say they are particularly good at.”

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