South Africa saw the first Dutch settlers land near the Cape of Good Hope in the mid 17th Century before the arrival of British settlers more than 150 years later.
Located at the most southern tip of the African continent, as the name suggests, the Republic of South Africa has a population of just over 40 million people and was formerly known as the Union of South Africa.
Rugby was first played in South Africa in the late 19th Century with the South Africa Rugby Football Union formed in 1889, although it did not join the International Rugby Board for another 60 years.
Once regarded a white man’s sport – South Africa was for a time until 1991 the subject of an international sports boycott because of the apartheid regime – rugby has always been popular among the black communities and today has around 60,000 senior players.
The major competition on the domestic front is the Currie Cup, a tournament that dates back more than a century and is contested by teams from 14 provincial unions, which in turn are feeders for South Africa’s four Super 12 outfits.