The Springboks vs The Wallabies

Oct 6 • General News, International, National, Rugby World Cup News, RWC 2011 • 3342 Views • Comments Off on The Springboks vs The Wallabies

Sunday, 9 October at Wellington Regional Stadium

Below is a statistical preview of the Rugby World Cup quarterfinal match between South Africa and Australia in Wellington on Sunday.

South Africa’s first match in a RWC tournament was against Australia in the opening match of the 1995 tournament held in South Africa. The match was played at Newlands, Cape Town and was won by the Springboks 27-18. At the end of that tournament, South Africa were crowned Champions.

Four years later, the two sides met again in the 1999 RWC tournament. This time it was in the semifinal at Twickenham, London. On this occasion, Australia triumphed after extra time, 27-21, and they went on to reclaim the William Webb Ellis trophy. They became the first team to win the Rugby World Cup twice.

In 2007 South Africa became the second team to be crowned RWC Champions for a second time. On Sunday these two teams will meet for a third time in RWC history, this time for a place in the Semi-final.

THE TEAM

No	Player	Province	Caps	RWC caps
15	Pat Lambie	KwaZulu-Natal	10	3
14	JP Pietersen	KwaZulu-Natal	41	10
13	Jaque Fourie	Western Province	68	14
12	Jean de Villiers	Western Province	71	3
11	Bryan Habana	Western Province	73	10
10	Morné Steyn	Blue Bulls	33	4
9	Fourie du Preez	Blue Bulls	61	10
8	Pierre Spies	Blue Bulls	46	4
7	Schalk Burger	Western Province	67	12
6	Heinrich Brüssow	Free State	19	4
5	Victor Matfield	Blue Bulls	109	13
4	Danie Rossouw	Blue Bulls	62	14
3	Jannie du Plessis	KwaZulu-Natal	29	5
2	John Smit (captain)	KwaZulu-Natal	110	16
1	Gurthrö Steenkamp	Blue Bulls	37	6
Replacements
16	Bismarck du Plessis	KwaZulu-Natal	41	8
17	CJ van der Linde	Golden Lions	73	7
18	Willem Alberts	KwaZulu-Natal	8	4
19	Francois Louw	Bath, England	9	2
20	Francois Hougaard	Blue Bulls	14	4
21	Butch James	Golden Lions	42	7
22	Gio Aplon	Western Province	16	1

· The oldest player is Victor Matfield (34 Years)
· The youngest player is Pat Lambie (20 Years)
· The heaviest player is CJ van der Linde (123 kg)
· The lightest player is Geo Aplon (78 kg)
· The tallest player is Victor Matfield (2.01 m)
· The shortest player is Geo Aplon (1.75 m)
· The average weight of the forwards is 115 kg
· The average weight of the backs is 93 kg

TEAM MILESTONES AND RECORDS

· The starting lineup has 836 combined caps. This is the most experienced Springbok side of all time, with 21 more caps than the team that played against Wales in South Africa’s opening game in this tournament.
· This will be South Africa’s 30^th test match in RWC tournaments. Of the previous 29 tests, only three were lost, for a winning percentage of 89.7%, the best of any participant in this tournament.
· South Africa have scored 115 tries in Rugby World Cup tournaments and 1 000 points.
· The first test that was played by South Africa on a Sunday was against Italy in Rome on 12 November 1995. Since then the Springboks have played in 13 tests on a Sunday. They have won them all.

PLAYERS’ MILESTONES & RECORDS

· John Smit will captain the Springboks for a world record 83^rd time, in his 111^th Test and 17^th RWC match, both Springbok records. All 17 tests have been consecutive, placing him alongside Brian Lima of Samoa and one match behind record holder Martin Johnson of England who played in 18 consecutive RWC Matches. Smit is the only captain in RWC history to have captained his team in three RWC tournaments.
· Victor Matfield will play in his 110^th test for the Springboks. He is the most capped lock forward in Rugby Union and has scored 7 test tries in his Springbok career.
· Bryan Habana extended his Springbok career try-scoring record in tests for South Africa to 40 tries in 73 tests against Samoa. His 10 RWC tries are also a Springbok record.
· Jaque Fourie is the most capped Springbok centre (57) and leading centre try scorer (28). Fourie and Jean de Villiers will extend their Springbok record as a centre pairing to 26 tests on Sunday.
· Morne Steyn passed the 400-points mark in Springbok rugby during the test against Samoa. He is currently the top point scorer in this tournament with 53 points. He will also play in his 22^nd consecutive test match.
· Pierre Spies is South Africa’s top try scorer in tests as a No 8 with 7 tries.
· Schalk Burger is South Africa’s most capped flank forward with 65 tests and shares the Springbok try-scoring record for a flank with Juan Smith with 11 tries each.
· Danie Rossouw has scored six tries in RWC tournaments, a Springbok record for a forward.
· Gurthrö Steenkamp is South Africa’s top try scorer as a prop in tests with 6 tries. Three of his six tries were scored against Australia.
· Jannie and Bismarck du Plessis will play together as brothers in their 20^th test should Bismarck be used from the bench.
· Butch James is South Africa’s most capped flyhalf with 37 tests. Butch played in 6 tests in RWC 2007, but only once as a substitute against Wales in this tournament.
· Francois Hougaard is South Africa’s top try scorer in this tournament together with Frans Steyn with 3 tries each.
· CJ van der Linde will play in his 35^th test as a substitute should he be used off the bench.

HEAD TO HEAD

South Africa		Australia
41	Won	31
31	Lost	41
1	Drawn	1
56.2	Win percentage	42.5
1 376	Points	1 292
1 292	Points conceded	1 376
166	Tries	134
134	Tries conceded	166

LAST FIVE MEETINGS

24/07/2010 Australia won 30-13 in Brisbane.

28/08/2010 South Africa won 44-31 in Pretoria.

04/09/2010 Australia won 41-39 in Bloemfontein.

23/07/2011 Australia won 39-20 in Sydney.

13/08/2011 Australia won 14-9 in Durban.

OVERALL

South Africa		Australia
403	Tests	529
255	Won	268
129	Lost	246
19	Drawn	15
63.3	Win percentage	50.7
9 158	Points	10 870
6 187	Points conceded	8 682
1 137	Tries	1 388
620	Tries conceded	1 088

PLAYER CAREER RECORDS

South Africa		Australia
110 – John Smit	Most tests	139 – George Gregan
893 – Percy Montgomery	Most points	911 – Michael Lynagh
40 – Bryan Habana	Most tries	64 – David Campese
153 – Percy Montgomery	Most conversions	140 – Michael Lynagh
148 – Percy Montgomery	Most penalty goals	177 – Michael Lynagh
18 – Naas Botha	Most drop goals	9 – Michael Lynagh & Phil Hawthorne

THE COACHES

Peter de Villiers made his International Coaching debut in June 2008 against Wales in Bloemfontein. His match record is as follows: 47 test matches of which 30 were won with 17 losses for a win percentage of 63.8%.

Robbie Deans is a former All Black who played in five test matches for New Zealand. Following a successful career with the Canterbury Crusaders (under his guidance the Crusaders played in seven Super Rugby Finals of which his team won five), he was appointed as Head Coach of the Australian Wallabies in 2008. He made his International Coaching debut in June 2008 against Ireland in Melbourne. His match record since then is: 52 test matches of which 30 were won, 21 lost with one drawn for a win percentage of 57.7%.

WELLINGTON REGIONAL STADIUM

South Africa have played seven Tests at the venue: Five were lost – all against the All Blacks – while two have been won during this tournament, against Wales and Fiji.

THE REFEREE

Bryce Lawrence of New Zealand made his Test debut in 2008 in a Tri-Nations test between Australia and South Africa. The test was played in Perth and was won by Australia 16-9.

Sunday’s match will be his 20^th Test appearance and his seventh involving the Springboks. Of the previous six tests South Africa won 4 and lost two. Both losses were against Australia, the most recent, earlier this year in Durban when the Springboks lost 14-9.