After William Webb Ellis got Rugby Union off the ground and passed around the globe from 1823,  South Africa was, after the unlikely USA, the second British colony to get into this sport. 

Modern history and professional-era spin and marketing have distorted the game's history - but those few that understand the development of Rugby Union wonder if the Springboks and not the highly-marketed teams from Oceania are the game's likely Bi-Centennial top team.

Statistics are said to be like a bikini - 'what they don't reveal is suggestive and what they do reveal is vital'.  However, statistics, we all know, can be manipulated.  I've been a rugby player and fan in South Africa for years, and have always struggled with the notion that British colonies in far-flung regions of the down-under could have developed before South Africa.

'South African amateur Rugby Union was for 100 years the benchmark for all to aspire to. I'm happy to see the mighty Springboks back'


Having research the problem, I found they didn't.  South Africa simply didn't exist!  And so the blame and error is not intentional, it's just a mere quirk of history.

The British colony at the tip of Africa, pre-dating Australia and New Zealand, was called the Cape Colony and rugby played here before the Oceanic regions was between independent sovereign nations called the Republics.

South Africa was only formed as a Union in 1910 and by factoring in all the pre-name-change internationals of this British colony at the tip of Africa, Southern Africa comes out ranked number one.

This process undoes a host of claims from Oceanic teams and viewed in this light has the Springboks (also a more modern term) out in front coming up to 2023.

Isolation of the South African Rugby Union team for ten years during the 1980s saw Oceanic teams like Australia and New Zealand climb the world rankings, which the Springboks need to reverse again, once permitted within international Rugby Union.

The isolation rustiness took its toll; the South Africans didn't return at their previous peak performance and suffered a decade of re-adjustment as the code had gone professional (instigated by New Zealand).

South African amateur Rugby Union was for 100 years the benchmark for all to aspire to.  I'm happy to see the mighty Springboks back, and considering their workload in the development of the game in Africa, hope they'll be regarded at the greatest Rugby Union of the past 200 years!

Do South Africa hold a special place in Rugby Union history? Post your comments below.