Springboks v England: All the stats and facts

SOUTH AFRICA v ENGLAND – 10BET ELLIS PARK, JOHANNESBURG – KO 5.40PM (SAST) ON SATURDAY

REFEREE

James Doleman (New Zealand)

Test debut: 13 July, 2021 – Australia 26-28 France

Tests as referee: 18

• James Doleman will take charge of this fixture for the first time.

• South Africa have won all three Tests with Doleman in the middle, two of them coming last year when he oversaw wins over Australia (30-22) in Cape Town and Italy (32-14) in Turin.

• England have a W3, L1 record with the New Zealand official in charge, losing the only away fixture of the four – 30-28 to the Wallabies in Australia in 2022.

• The wins all came at Allianz Stadium, including Doleman’s Men’s Six Nations debut when England beat Italy 31-14 in February 2023.

• This will be his second Test of the year, having overseen France’s 54-12 defeat of Wales in the Guinness Men’s Six Nations in February.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

1906-2024 | Played 47 | South Africa 29 | England 16 | Drawn 2

Points for: South Africa 1 017/England 804 (Avg. score: 22-17)

Highest score: South Africa 58 (58-10 on 26 May, 2007)/England 53 (53-3 on 23 November, 2002)

Biggest winning margin: South Africa 48 (58-10 on 26 May, 2007)/England 50 (53-3 on 23 November, 2002)

First met: 8 December, 1906 – England 3-3 South Africa – Crystal Palace, London

• South Africa have won the last three meetings – their best run of success against England since they won nine in a row from 2006-12.

• Two of the last four matches between the teams have been settled by a single point (27-26 for England in 2021 and 16-15 for South Africa in 2023).

• The Springboks have beaten England at the last two Men’s Rugby World Cups – 32-12 in the final of 2019 and 16-15 in the semi-final of 2023.

• South Africa passed 1 000 points in Tests against England when the teams last met in 2024.

• The 29-20 defeat was England’s third straight defeat at home – the first time this had happened since 2006.

• England had two more 22-metre entries than South Africa (10-8) but only averaged 1.7 points per visit compared to the Springboks’ 3.2 points.

• There were 27 penalties in the game, with South Africa conceding 14 to England’s 13.

• South Africa won 42-39 the last time the sides met at this weekend’s venue, Emirates Airline Park (10bet Ellis Park).

• England won on their first visit there, 18-9 in 1972 but have lost the three matches played against South Africa there ever since (1984, 2012 and 2018).

TEAM NOTES

• South Africa warmed up for the Nations Championship with an 80-31 win over the Barbarians in Gqeberha on 20 June.

• The Springboks, who led 40-24 at half-time, notched 12 tries, nine of which were converted by Cheslin Kolbe, who was also among the try-scorers, to take his contribution in the match to 23 points.

• Winger Edwill van der Merwe was another star for the record four-time Rugby World Cup winners, claiming a hat-trick of tries.

• South Africa have only lost two of their last 18 Tests (38-22 v Australia at Ellis Park in August 2025 and 24-17 v New Zealand in September 2025).

• The Springboks are on an eight-Test winning streak, with the margin of victory being in double figures in all but one of those matches.

• South Africa scored 572 points and 81 tries in 2025, averaging 40.9 points and 5.8 tries per game, a significant improvement on their 2024 match average of 34.6 points and 4.4 tries.

• South Africa moved to the top of the World Rugby Men’s Rankings again last September when they inflicted a record 43-10 defeat on New Zealand in Wellington and they have maintained that position ever since.

• Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu was the second-highest point scorer in world rugby in 2025, amassing 120, which put him just two behind Japan’s Seungsin Lee.

• Feinberg-Mngomezulu was also the second-highest try scorer, his tally of nine only bettered by France’s Louis Bielle-Biarrey (10).

• The flyhalf’s tally of 37 points against Argentina at King’s Park broke the Springbok record for most individual points in a test, which was previously held by Percy Montgomery (35).

• South Africa rounded off the year by shutting out Wales 73-0, the second time in the year that they’d prevented the opposition from scoring (also 45-0 v Italy).

• It also saw the Springboks complete a Grand Slam of northern hemisphere wins in November, including a first win in 12 years in Ireland.

• The Springboks received four red cards in 2025 (Jasper Wiese v Italy in Gqeberha in July, Eben Etzebeth v Wales, Lood de Jager v France and Franco Mostert v Italy in November). Mostert’s red card was later rescinded.

• South Africa claimed back-to-back Rugby Championship titles for the first time when they beat Argentina 29-27 at Allianz Stadium in Twickenham on 4 October.

• The win over Los Pumas left South Africa and New Zealand tied on 19 points at the top of the standings but the Springboks finished top as their points difference was +57 to the All Blacks’ +8.

• Both teams conceded 151 points, the joint fewest in the tournament but South Africa’s tournament-high tally of 208 points scored saw them reclaim the trophy.

• The Springboks’ 27 tries were also the most in the competition.

• Almost half of the tries the Springboks scored came from turnovers (13/27).

• However, they conceded two more tries (19) than both New Zealand and Australia (17).

• South Africa made more line-breaks and offloads than any other team (both 48).

• They also kicked the ball the most in open play (180), an average of 30 per game.

• South Africa had the lowest penalty count in the tournament (56), conceding an average of just 9.33 per game.

• World Rugby Men’s 15s Player of the Year 2025 Malcolm Marx was the tournament’s joint top try scorer (four, along with Australia’s Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii).

• The hooker, who became the first front-row recipient of the Player of the Year award since the inaugural winner Keith Wood in 2001, was joined in the World Rugby Men’s 15s Team of the Year by props Ox Nché and Thomas du Toit, two-time Player of the Year Pieter-Steph du Toit and backs Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Cheslin Kolbe.

SQUAD NOTES

• Rassie Erasmus and his coaching staff have named 28 forwards and 18 backs, with the six possible debutants being Paul de Villiers, Riley Norton, Ruben van Heerden, Carlu Sadie, Vusi Moyo and Jaco Williams.

• Norton and Moyo were initially set to feature for the Junior Springboks at the World Rugby Junior World Championship in Georgia, the former as captain again after leading them to victory in Italy in 2025. Norton has subsequently been ruled out with an injury.

• SA URC Player of the Season Embrose Papier and France-based Herschel Jantjies, whose last Tests for the Springboks were in 2018 and 2023 respectively, have won recalls.

• After missing out on the 2025 Test season due to a hamstring injury, Bulls powerhouse Cameron Hanekom gets the chance to make up for lost time and add to the solitary cap he won against Wales in November 2024.

COACH NOTES

• Erasmus returned to the Springbok head coach role in February 2024, signing a contract that takes him through to the end of 2027.

• The win over Les Bleus at the Stade de France on 8 November was his 50th as head coach.

• He has overseen 27 Tests in his second spell, winning 23 and losing four (85%).

• Overall, he has been in charge of 53 Tests (head coach/director of rugby) and will draw level with Jake White as the Springboks’ most experienced coach with this Test against England.

• Erasmus was the mastermind behind the Springboks’ back-to-back Rugby World Cup successes of 2019 and 2023 – as head coach and then director of rugby.

• He also led South Africa to their first Rugby Championship title in five years in 2024 and a clean sweep of victories in the Autumn Nations Series that followed.

• His first reign in charge started with a defeat to Wales in Washington, DC, in June 2018.

• Erasmus won 36 caps for South Africa as a back-row forward from 1997-2001.

TEAM NOTES

• England’s 12-match winning run, which included an unbeaten November, came to an abrupt end in round two of the 2026 Guinness Men’s Six Nations when they fell to a 31-20 defeat to Scotland at Murrayfield.

• England proceeded to lose their next three matches, to finish the Men’s Six Nations in fifth place, with only Wales below them.

• England’s worst Men’s Six Nations in history included a record home defeat to Ireland (42-21) and a first-ever loss to Italy in 33 meetings. They’d never lost four games in the same championship before.

• England gave up half-time leads in the subsequent games against Italy and France, having turned around 12-10 and 27-24 in front.

• Against France in round five, England beat the one-week-old record of the highest scoring losing Men’s Six Nations team – 46 points. The previous record was the 40 points France scored in the 90-point thriller against Scotland in round four.

• England’s total of 146 points conceded was the most they have allowed in a Men’s Six Nations campaign.

• England allowed the opposition fewer entries into their 22 than any other team yet conceded a tournament high 3.8 points on average.

• England were ranked top for most kicks in play (150) at an average of 30 per game.

• England had the best set-piece stats (94.9% line-out and 89.5% scrum).

• Nine of the 26 yellow cards issued in this year’s Men’s Six Nations were to England, which equalled the team record set by Italy in 2002.

• Joe Heyes won more scrum penalties than any other player in the 2026 Men’s Six Nations, a total of 15.

• Against Scotland, Henry Arundell became the first England player to receive a red card since Charlie Ewels (v Japan in Tokyo, June 2024), the winger having received two separate yellow cards.

• It capped an eventful start to the championship for the Bath winger, who’d become the youngest England player and fourth-youngest overall to score a Men’s Six Nations hat-trick the week before, in the 48-7 win over Wales (23 years and 91 days old).

SQUAD NOTES

• With Maro Itoje rested, Saracens hooker Jamie George captains England in his final year as a professional player.

• George is no stranger to the role, serving as full-time captain back in 2024 and later acting as co-captain alongside George Ford for the 2025 tour of the Americas.

• He has led the team in 13 of his 110 Tests.

• Head coach Steve Borthwick has named five uncapped players in the 36-man group in the form of Benhard Janse van Rensburg, Noah Caluori, Greg Fisilau, George Kloska and Vilikesa Sela.

COACH NOTES

• Borthwick has won 58% of his Tests (26/45) as England head coach since succeeding Eddie Jones ahead of the 2023 Men’s Six Nations.  

• Borthwick coached England to a third-place finish at Rugby World Cup 2023.

• In 2025, he led the team to 12 straight victories.

• The Lancastrian first started life as an international coach in 2012, as forwards coach of Japan under Jones and spent three years there before becoming part of Jones’ England backroom team. 

• Borthwick coached Leicester to the Gallagher Premiership title on leaving the RFU but returned three years ago as England head coach. 

• The former England captain and second-row played 57 Tests for his country, making his debut against France in 2001. 

DID YOU KNOW…?

Springbok head coach Erasmus started at flanker when South Africa knocked England out at the quarter-final stage of RWC 1999, a match famous for Jannie de Beer’s five drop goals and 34-point contribution.

RANKINGS PERMUTATIONS

• South Africa cannot improve their rating by beating England given the 10.03 points difference between the two teams.

• The Springboks will surrender their No 1 ranking if they lose by more than 15 points and New Zealand beat France by the same margin in the Nations Championship opener.

• South Africa cannot fall any lower than second this weekend, even if third-ranked Ireland beat hosts Australia by more than 15 points.

• England will jump two places to fourth if they beat South Africa by more than 15 points and France lose by the same margin in Christchurch.

Springbok starting XV: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse; 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Grant Williams; 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (capt); 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Eben Etzebeth; 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche. Replacements: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Zach Porthen, 19 Marco van Staden, 20 Cameron Hanekom, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Andre Esterhuizen, 23 Canan Moodie.

England starting XV: 15 George Furbank, 14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 13 Tommy Freeman, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Cadan Murley; 10 Fin Smith, 9 Jack van Poortvliet; 8 Ben Earl, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Ollie Chessum: 5 George Martin, 4 Alex Coles; 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Jamie George (capt), 1 Ellis Genge. Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Beno Obano, 18 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 19 Charlie Ewels, 20 Guy Pepper, 21 Henry Pollock, 22 Alex Mitchell, 23 Marcus Smith.

South Africa v England @ 10bet Ellis Park, Johannesburg (5.40pm)

Referee: James Doleman (NZR)

Assistant Referees: Andrew Brace (IRFU), Pierre Brousset (FFR)

Television Match Official: Richard Kelly (NZR)

Split Screen/FPRO: Olly Hodges (IRFU)