South Africa Profile

Colours: Green
Nicknames: Springboks, Boks, Bokke
Major Honours: World Champions (1995), Tri-Nations Champions (1998,2004), Mandela Cup Champions (2002)

Coach: Former South African Under-21 coach Jake White has been a breath of fresh air in the Springbok set-up, after taking the team from a nightmare season in 2003, White led the Springboks to the Tri-Nations crown in 2004 after just six months in charge of the team. White was technical advisor under Nick Mallett's Bok side in 1998 before taking over the South African Under-21 team - leading them to victory in the U21 World Championsips in 2002. Within a year of taking the helm, he had steered the Boks to a Tri-Nations title. 

Captain: John Smit became the 51st player to captain the Springboks in a 46-19 win over Georgia at the Rugby World Cup in Australia. While his leadership of the team was temporary at the time, Smit was called upon to take a step further with his appointment as Bok captain under new coach Jake White. The move was criticised with many believing Smit was not the best in his position at the time, but the Natal Sharks skipper has since proved his nay-sayers wrong, by leading the team to their second Tri-Nations trophy in 2004.

Player(s) to watch: Bryan Habana burst onto the scene in late 2004 and wowed everyone with his blistering pace. In 2005 he added a work ethic and a defensive game to his glorious running and try-scoring, and matured into a fully-fledged world-class winger.

Profile: One of the proudest Test nations, South Africa returned from years in the international wilderness in 1992 and three years later took centre stage as the winners of the 1995 Rugby World Cup, a emotional victory on home soil that seemed to unite a bitterly divided nation.

They followed that success with a record-equalling Test run of 17 straight victories under the guidance of coach Nick Mallett in 1997/8, and in 1998 swept the board during the Tri-Nations to set the marker down as the best side in the southern hemisphere and the world at that time.

However, 1999 saw them lose their way somewhat, eventually going out in the RWC'99 semi-finals and the following year saw Mallett resign after a bout of internal politics.

Harry Viljoen was the latest in a procession of coaches to take charge of the once-revered side and like so many of his predecessors every defeat took him a step closer to being given the boot until he announced his resignation in January 2002.

South African bosses then turned to former World Cup winner Rudolf Straeuli who had coached provincial side the Sharks to three Finals (two Currie Cup and one Super 12) but he has since struggled to reverse the Boks' fortunes.

In 2002/3 South Africa suffered from record defeats at the hands of England and New Zealand, finished bottom of the 2003 Tri-Nations, and crashed out of the World Cup with barely a whimper. That was followed by the sacking of coach Rudolf Straeuli, allegations of racism, and the scandal created by 'Kamp Staaldraad', a brutal regime used as World Cup preparation.

Jake White has since calmed things down on the field, and South Africa are currently a comfortable number two in the world, but off the field the acrimonious power struggles continue, with the discredited and frequently disgraced President Brian van Rooyen fighting tooth and nail to cling onto his seat of power despite the lack of faith in him from the entire nation.