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Sprinbok Rugy team at the Springbok Experience Rugby museum. Author Bernard.

15 Best South African Rugby Players

South Africa鈥檚 rugby team (popularly known as the most successful team in Africa and Top ranks in the world, particularly their 7鈥檚 side.  They have produced some of the most outstanding players in the world. Given the number of rugby players in the country, compiling a list of the best South African rugby players is a daunting task. Even so, it is one worth undertaking to satisfy your curiosity about the greatest rugby players from South Africa. Over the years, South Africa鈥檚 rugby team has participated in high-profile tournaments against the best teams in the world.  

1. Andre Joubert

Andr茅 is a former South African rugby union player, widely known as “The Rolls-Royce of Fullbacks” for his pace, class, and seemingly effortless style. He was capped 34 times at fullback for the Springboks in the 1990s and amassed 115 test points from 10 tries, 17 penalties, and 7 conversions.

 The tall, rangy runner was a thriller to watch in the fullback position. With a combination of speed, strength, and composure under the high ball and was a shuddering tackler, he scored ten tries in 34 Tests underlining his ability to cruise into the attacking line and shred defenses.

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 2. Carel Du Plessis

 Carel Johan du Plessis is a former South African rugby union coach and player. Having scored four tries in his 12 caps, he was also a victim of the sporting boycott imposed on South Africa.  Despite that, he earned the nickname of the Prince of Wings in his career and became well known in the northern hemisphere, as the Independent鈥檚 Chris Hewett recorded.

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3. Danie Gerber

Danie Gerber is a former South African rugby union player, who played for South Africa between 1980 and 1992. He played mainly at inside or outside center, but also on the wing. His international career was severely limited because of South Africa’s sporting isolation caused by apartheid.

As one of the great players of the apartheid era came with a hat-trick against England.  Baines concluded:  鈥淕erber鈥檚 legacy will always be one of disappointment for many rugby fans, as South Africa’s politics deprived the international game of one of its brightest stars. No center had combined the athleticism and power that Gerber possessed before, and while the spectre of the quick, powerful center now looms large over world rugby he has yet to be bettered鈥�.

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4. John Gainsford

John Leslie Gainsford was a South African rugby union player. He was born in Germiston. He has 71capss for South Africa, including tour games, and was known for being the most-capped Springbok center until his record was overtaken by Japie Mulder in 2001.

During his career, he scored eight tries in 33 Tests for the Springboks, earning legendary status with a brace against the All Blacks to help them to a 19-16 win in Christchurch in 1965. He was defined by his tremendous pace with which he was able to beat players on the outside, a rare trait in modern day centers who more often than not look for contact rather than space.

5. Bryan Habana

Bryan Habana. Author AB from South Africa.

One of the current stars of South African rugby, Habana cemented his place among the sport’s elite with a series of outstanding displays during South Africa’s 2007 Rugby World Cup triumph. Honored as the 2007 IRB Player of the Year, Habana is definitely well placed to be one of the most lethal wingers in the game having taken the Springboks’ all-time try-scoring record during the 2011 World Cup.

Magnificent in both center and scrum-half as a Springboks 7s international, he was also the top try-scorer at the 2004 IRB U21 World Championship before making his Springboks debut as a replacement against England on 20 November 2004, scoring a try with his first touch of the ball.

He possesses the one quality every coach wants in a wing: raw, unadulterated pace.  He finished the 2007 World Cup as top try scorer in the tournament and has continued to pile up crucial points for the Springboks well into his advancing years.  Fifty-five tries in 97 Tests saw him sail past the South African record.

6. Naas Botha

Naas Botha. Author Original uploader was Blackcat at it.wikipedia.

One of the all-time greats of South African rugby, Naas Botha won 28 caps for the Springboks during a 12-year international career that spanned from 1980 to 1992. The inspirational fly-half was best known for his deadly boot. Whether he was kicking from hand, place-kicking or slotting drop goals.

Interestingly, his kicking prowess earned him the nickname “Nasty Booter” from the British press during the British & Irish Lions’ tour of South Africa in 1980 and Springboks legend Danie Craven once said, “Give me Naas, and I’ll conquer the world!”

He was the highest point鈥檚 scorer in South African rugby history with 312 points until his mark was surpassed by Percy Montgomery in 2004. He currently works for South African broadcaster SuperSport as an analyst.

7. Joost Van Der Westhuizen

Joost Van Der Westhuizen. Author Stemoc.

Joost Heystek van der Westhuizen was a South African professional rugby union player who made 89 appearances in test matches for the national team, scoring 38 tries. He mostly played as a scrum-half and participated in three Rugby World Cups, most notably in the 1995 tournament, which was won by South Africa.

 South Africa鈥檚 1995 World Cup winning side was full of household names, but the spark was always provided by the man in the No. 9 jersey with the sparkling blue eyes and razor sharp reflexes. Van der Westhuizen was on another level to every other scrum-half in world rugby.  He was bigger than every other No. 9 of his era and used that size and strength to often play as a fourth back row forward with his powerful salvos from the base of the breakdown. His pass was assured and decision making second to none.  Eighty-nine caps yielded a massive 38 tries, which was a Springbok record until Bryan Habana surpassed it. 

However, for a man who was one of the greatest of all time on the field, life after rugby didn鈥檛 favor him.  Sadly, a sex and drugs scandal led to the breakdown of his marriage, and in 2009 he suffered a suspected heart attack before being diagnosed with motor neuron disease in 2011.

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8. Gary Teichmann

Gary Teichmann is a former South African captain who led by example and was greatly respected by those in the game for his humility and courage. He never captained a side at school level but once he started playing for Natal his coach Ian McIntosh realized Teichmann’s potential as a captain and pushed him into it. Under his leadership, Natal won three Currie Cups and they reached the Super 10 final in 1994. Four years later he led the Sharks to the final of the Super 12.

In 1995, he made his Test debut against Wales marking the occasion with a try in a 40-11 win. The Springboks won 26 of the 36 matches when he led the side and they also went onto win a record-breaking 17 matches in a succession but he led the Springboks to a surprise series defeat in 1997 when the World Champions lost to the British & Irish Lions 2-1. No wander, his name cannot miss in the list.

9. Ruben Kruger

Kruger was considered a tough, committed flanker who helped South Africa to their famous victory at the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa. Having made his Test debut in 1993 against Argentina, he was in prime form during the tournament and scored a controversial try in the semi-final victory over France in Durban. In the final he started alongside skipper Francois Pienaar and Mark Andrews in the back-row, beating the All Blacks to claim South Africa’s first World Cup title.

At club level he was a servant of Free State and Northern Transvaal, now Blue Bulls, and he retired after the 1999 World Cup following a series of knee injuries.

Unfortunately, in 2000 he was diagnosed with cancer after blacking out during a game and fought the disease for a number of years. In 2010 he succumbed to the disease at aged 39. A rare talent lost at a very early age.

10. Andre Venter

 Venter won 66 caps and scored nine tries for South Africa. During his playing career he wass one of the hardest, fittest men ever to have worn the green jersey.  He was part of the 1999 World Cup side in a career that spanned five years and was regarded by team-mates and opponents as one of the best flankers in the business.

 In a curious twist of ill fate, Venter, like former team-mate Joost van der Westhuizen, has also been struck down with a form of motor neurone disease that has left him confined to a wheelchair.

11. Victor Matfield 

Victor Matfield. Author deonmaritz.

A career record of 113 caps in a 13-year career and counting, Matfield is one of the greatest second rows ever to have played the game. He retired after the 2011 World Cup, but he came back ahead of the 2014 Super Rugby season and was captain of the Springboks in their June Tests.

 Former South Africa coach Morne du Plessis told ESPNScrum: “He has turned the history of comebacks on its head. Most end in tears but Victor has been the exception to the rule. He doesn’t look like he skipped a beat.”

12. Mark Andrews

As a young player, Andrews had only made his international debut a year before South Africa won their first World Cup. The towering second row was a mainstay of that pack in the engine room but proved his versatility when switched to No. 8 for the semi-final against France. Andrews won 77 caps in all. He lifted Currie Cups with Natal in 1995 and 1996 and also enjoyed a short stint in the English Premiership with Newcastle Falcons.

13. Hannes Marais

Marais captained the Boks on their unbeaten tour of Australia in 1971, winning every game. The prop owes his success to the legendary coach Dr. Danie Craven who converted him from a back row forward at a time when the political situation in South Africa was not favorable.

Marais, according to this report from The Age during the 1971 tour, was adept at ensuring he and his players did not get caught in the crossfire between protesters who followed the side everywhere and the politicians back home. The report stated:  “Hannes Marais is a friendly sort of bloke. But, like all the Springboks, he knows precisely what he must not talk about. He must not talk about Apartheid. He just continually reminds people he is in Australia to play rugby.”

14. Uli Schmidt

 Schmidt played for the Boks between 1986 and 1994, and was regarded as a fearsome front row forward who never took a backward step.  During his playing career he won 10 of his 17 matches and was regarded the world over as one of the hardest men of his era.  He later became the team doctor under the Rudolph Straeuli regime.

15. Os Du Randt

Jacobus Petrus “Os” du Randt is a former South African rugby union loosehead prop who retired as the most-capped forward in the history of the Springboks. For most of his career, he played in the domestic Currie Cup for the Free State Cheetahs, though he spent one season with the Blue Bulls.

In 2007 du Randt achieved the improbable when he lifted a second Webb Ellis Cup, some 12 years after winning his first.  “The Ox” is a legend in South Africa. The giant loose head won 80 caps and formed the cornerstone of two World Cup鈥搘inning packs.

 In his earlier incarnation, du Randt could be as destructive a runner as he was a scrummager. He retired with injury in 2000. But, impressively, he proved himself able to cut it in the front row after curtailing his retirement in 2003 and was back in the Springbok fold the following year.

  In 2007 he was named man of the match in the World Cup semi-final against Argentina and played the full 80 minutes of the final.