Springboks v Scotland: By the numbers

SOUTH AFRICA v SCOTLAND LOFTUS VERSFELD, PRETORIA – KO 5.40pm (SAST) ON SATURDAY

REFEREE

Pierre Brousset (France)

Test debut: 22 April, 2017 – Malta 39-17 Israel

Tests as referee: 19 (including one as replacement referee)

• Pierre Brousset will referee South Africa for the first time with this fixture.

• It will be the second time the Frenchman referees Scotland, having overseen their 16-15 loss to England on his Guinness Men’s Six Nations debut in February 2025.

• This is Brousset’s second test of the year after England’s 48-7 defeat of Wales in the Men’s Six Nations, although he did also step in to referee the remainder of the England v Ireland match after Andrea Piardi suffered an injury.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

1906-2024 | Played 30 | South Africa 25 | Scotland 5

Points for: South Africa 792/Scotland 339 (Avg. score: 26-11)

Highest score: South Africa 68 (68-10 on 6 December, 1997)/Scotland 29 (29-46 on 3 October 1999)

Biggest winning margin: South Africa 58 (68-10 on 6 December, 1997)/Scotland 15 (21-6 on 16 November, 2002)

First met: 17 November, 1906 – Scotland 6-0 South Africa – Hampden Park, Glasgow 25

HEAD-TO-HEAD NOTES

• This is the first time the sides have met at Loftus Versfeld and the first time Scotland have faced the Springboks in South Africa in 12 years.

• South Africa are on a nine-match winning run against Scotland, dating back to the 21-17 defeat at Murrayfield in 2010.

• Scotland have never beaten South Africa outside of Scotland, with a victory in the first-ever meeting at Hampden Park in Glasgow followed by four at Murrayfield.

• Scotland have failed to score a try in four of the last seven meetings, their 15 points in the last encounter coming from five Finn Russell penalties.

• Stuart Hogg was the last Scotland player to score a try against South Africa. Some 182 minutes have elapsed since he touched down for a second time in the home defeat in 2021.

• South Africa’s 55-6 win in 2014 was notable for being Handré Pollard’s debut, shortly after he’d captained the Junior Springboks to defeat in the World Rugby Junior World Championship final against England at Eden Park.

TEAM NOTES

• The win over England extended South Africa’s winning run to nine matches, dating back to their 24-17 defeat by New Zealand at Eden Park last September.

• The margin of victory has been in double figures in all but one of those matches.

• South Africa have only lost two of their last 19 Tests (38-22 v Australia at Ellis Park in August and 24-17 v New Zealand).

• South Africa’s last defeat on home soil was 38-27 to Australia in Johannesburg.

• Loftus Versfeld is their most successful ground, with 78.6% of Tests won there (33/42).

• South Africa have won their last six tests in Pretoria, with their last loss there being a 32-30 reverse to the All Blacks in 2018.

• South Africa were the most clinical side in round one of the Nations Championship, coming away with an average of 5.6 points for every entry into England’s 22.

• In a disciplined display by the Springboks, only six penalties were conceded – the jointlowest (along with Wales).

• South Africa and Scotland scored the most tries on the opening weekend (seven), with three of the Springboks’ scores coming inside the first quarter.

• Thomas du Toit, Cheslin Kolbe, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Grant Williams, Jesse Kriel, Malcolm Marx and Ben-Jason Dixon scored South Africa’s tries with Kolbe converting five of them.

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

• 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 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 Kolbe.

SQUAD NOTES

• Only five starters from the England victory retain their places in the run-on side that takes on Scotland in Kriel, Damian Willemse, Du Toit, Paul de Villiers and Ruan Nortje.

• Du Toit will captain the side again after taking over the role following Siya Kolisi’s late withdrawal last week, a move which saw flanker De Villiers come promoted into the starting line-up.

• Willemse played his 50th Test for South Africa last weekend.

• A cluster of senior players remain unavailable through injury concerns, including Kolisi, Etzebeth, De Jager, Mostert, Nché, Andre Esterhuizen and Ethan Hooker.

COACH NOTES

• Rassie 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 28 Tests in his second spell, winning 24 and losing four (85.7%).

• Overall, he has been in charge of 54 Tests (head coach/director of rugby) and will overtake Jake White as the Springboks’ most experienced coach with this Test against Scotland.

• 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

• Scotland equalled their highest-ever ranking of fifth following their 47-38 victory over Argentina last weekend.

• It was the most points they have scored against Los Pumas in Argentina and the highest score in round one of the Nations Championship.

• Scotland scored a try in each of their first three raids into the opposition red zone and, overall, they crossed for seven tries from 11 entries, producing an average of 5.2 points/entry, the third best return in round one.

• Gregor Hiddleston marked his debut with a try, while Scott Cummings and Pierre Schoeman also touched down on their 50th appearances for Scotland.

• Captain Sione Tuipulotu, Rory Hutchinson. Gregor Brown and Kyle Rowe were Scotland’s other try-scorers.

• Scotland were one of only two teams to boast a 100% success rate on both scrum and line-out (also Argentina).

• Scotland finished the 2026 Guinness Men’s Six Nations in third place, the seventh time they have achieved a top-half finish since the championship was expanded to include Italy in 2000.

• Scotland won three of their first four matches in a single Men’s Six Nations campaign for the first time, having beaten France 50-40, England 30-21 and Wales 26-23 (after trailing 17-5 at half-time), following an 18-15 away defeat to Italy in round one.

• Scotland’s defeat to Italy was their first loss on the opening weekend of a Men’s Six Nations since 2020.

• Scotland’s Calcutta Cup victory over England in round two was Gregor Townsend’s 56th test win in his 100th game in charge.

• It was also Scotland’s highest winning score against England since a 33-6 victory in the 1986 Five Nations.

• Huw Jones’ brace saw him become Scotland’s leading all-time try-scorer in the Men’s Six Nations (18).

• The win over France was the highest-scoring match in the history of Tests between the teams (90 points combined).

• It was Scotland’s record score against France, surpassing the previous best of 36 points in 1999.

• Scotland’s seven tries came from just nine entries into the French 22, with an average of 5.5 points scored per visit.

• In the round five defeat to Ireland, Darcy Graham extended his national team try-scoring record to 38.

• Scotland scored more tries in the 2026 Men’s Six Nations than they have in any other campaign, a total of 20 across five matches.

• Scotland’s conversion rate of 3.4 points for every visit into the opposition 22 was only bettered by champions France (3.6).

• Half of the 18 tries Scotland conceded came in the first quarter of matches.

• Scotland had the best tackle success in the championship (83.6%), made the most carries (761) and kicked the least in open play (22.8 per game).

• Rory Darge contributed more actions (carries, tackles, ruck entries) than any other player, a total of 326. His tackle success rate was 97.4% as he missed just two in the championship.

• Kyle Steyn beat most defenders (26).

• Scotland’s Quilter Nations Series campaign was bookended by comfortable wins over the USA, 85-0, and Tonga, 56-0. Record winning margins were established in both fixtures.

SQUAD NOTES

• Finn Russell returns from a calf injury as one of three changes to Scotland’s starting XV.

• Zander Fagerson and Gregor Brown have also both been promoted from the bench.

• Fagerson replaces Elliot Millar Mills, who has flown home after sustaining a calf injury against Argentina.

• Seb Stephen is the only uncapped player left in Scotland's 36-strong squad.

COACH NOTES

• This is Townsend’s 105th Test in charge of Scotland, having begun his reign with a 34-13 win against Italy in Singapore in June 2017.

• He is only the fifth head coach after Eddie Jones, Warren Gatland, Graham Henry and Joe Schmidt to reach the century milestone.

• Townsend has the longest unbroken run of Tests in charge of any current head coach of an established nation.  

• He has a 56.7% winning record overall (W59, D1, L44) and is the most experienced British or Irish head coach in history in terms of test appearances for one team.  

• Only Ian McGeechan’s first spell in charge between 1988 and 1993 (58%) can beat Townsend’s era in terms of win percentage over the past 50 years.

• The 53-year-old signed an extension to his contract in September, which takes him through to the end of RWC 2027.

• He is also an advisor to Red Bull, working up to 30 days a year for the energy drinks

• company.

DID YOU KNOW …?

Townsend’s playing career included a spell in South Africa with the Natal Sharks.

RANKINGS PERMUTATIONS

• South Africa can only gain a maximum of 0.03 rating points for beating Scotland, a consequence of the 9.83-point differential between the teams.

• The Springboks will surrender top spot to New Zealand if they lose by more than 15 points and the All Blacks beat Italy.

• A beaten Scotland could lose the two places they gained on the back of beat Argentina last weekend with wins for England and Los Pumas, providing the latter beat Wales by more than 15 points.

• However, a victory over the world champions and loss for France in Australia will take Scotland to a new high of fourth.

• Third is possible but that would require Scotland to win by more than 15 points, France lose and Ireland to lose by the same margin to Japan.

Springbok starting XV: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian Willemse, 11 Canan Moodie; 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Embrose Papier; 8 Evan Roos, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit (capt), 6 Paul de Villiers; 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Cobus Wiese; 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Boan Venter. Replacements: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Zach Porthen, 19 Ben-Jason Dixon, 20 Vincent Tshituka, 21 Elrigh Louw, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Quan Horn.

Scotland starting XV: 15 Kyle Rowe, 14 Kyle Steyn, 13 Rory Hutchinson, 12 Sione Tuipulotu (capt), 11 Jamie Dobie; 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben White; 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Rory Darge, 6 Matt Fagerson; 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Gregor Brown; 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Pierre Schoeman. Replacements: 16 Gregor Hiddleston, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Will Hurd, 19 Alex Samuel, 20 Josh Bayliss, 21 Magnus Bradbury, 22 Tom Jordan, 23 Stafford McDowall.

South Africa v Scotland at Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria - 5.40pm

Referee: Pierre Brousset (FFR)

Assistant Referees: James Doleman (NZR), Andrew Brace (IRFU)

Television Match Official: Richard Kelly (NZR)

Split Screen/FPRO: Olly Hodges (IRFU)