Head-To-Head: Ireland v South Africa

See below for a statistical preview of Saturday’s GUINNESS Series match between Ireland and South Africa at Croke Park (kick-off 2.30pm).

GUINNESS SERIES 2009: Saturday, November 28

IRELAND v SOUTH AFRICA, Croke Park, 2.30pm (live RTÉ Two/BBC One)

IRELAND: Rob Kearney; Tommy Bowe, Brian O’Driscoll (capt), Paddy Wallace, Keith Earls; Jonathan Sexton, Tomas O’Leary; Cian Healy, Jerry Flannery, John Hayes, Donncha O’Callaghan, Paul O’Connell, Stephen Ferris, David Wallace, Jamie Heaslip.

Replacements: Sean Cronin, Tony Buckley, Leo Cullen, Sean O’Brien, Peter Stringer, Ronan O’Gara, Gordon D’Arcy.

SOUTH AFRICA: Zane Kirchner; JP Pietersen, Jaque Fourie, Wynand Olivier, Bryan Habana; Morne Steyn, Fourie du Preez; Tendai Mtawarira, John Smit (capt), BJ Botha, Andries Bekker, Victor Matfield, Heinrich Brussow, Schalk Burger, Danie Rossouw.

Replacements: Bismarck du Plessis, CJ van der Linde, Francois Hougaard, Jean Deysel, Dewald Potgieter, Ruan Pienaar, Jean de Villiers.

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant Referees: Chris White (England), Carlo Damasco (Italy)
Television Match Official: Hugh Watkins (Wales)

Head-To-Head:

Played – 18
Ireland Won – 3 
South Africa Won – 14
Drawn – 1

Previous Meetings:

November 24, 1906 – Tour Match – Ireland 12 South Africa 15, Balmoral Showgrounds
November 30, 1912 – Tour Match – Ireland 0 South Africa 38, Lansdowne Road 
December 19, 1931 – Tour Match – Ireland 3 South Africa 8, Lansdowne Road
December 8, 1951 – Tour Match – Ireland 5 South Africa 17, Lansdowne Road 
December 17, 1960 – Tour Match – Ireland 3 South Africa 8, Lansdowne Road 
May 13, 1961 – Tour Match – South Africa 24 Ireland 8, Newlands
April 10, 1965 – Tour Match – Ireland 9 South Africa 6, Lansdowne Road 
January 10, 1970 – Tour Match – Ireland 8 South Africa 8, Lansdowne Road 
May 30, 1981 – Tour Match – South Africa 23 Ireland 15, Newlands
June 06, 1981 – Tour Match – South Africa 12 Ireland 10, ABSA Stadium
June 13, 1998 – Tour Match – South Africa 37 Ireland 13, Vodacom Park
June 20, 1998 – Tour Match – South Africa 33 Ireland 0, Loftus Versfeld
November 28, 1998 – Tour Match – Ireland 13 South Africa 27, Lansdowne Road 
November 19, 2000 – Tour Match – Ireland 18 South Africa 28, Lansdowne Road 
June 12, 2004 – Tour Match – South Africa 31 Ireland 17, Vodacom Park
June 19, 2004 – Tour Match – South Africa 26 Ireland 17, Newlands
November 13, 2004 – Tour Match – Ireland 17 South Africa 12, Lansdowne Road 
November 11, 2006 – Tour Match – Ireland 32 South Africa 15, Lansdowne Road

Biggest Wins And Margins:

Ireland: Points & Margin: 32-15, 2006 Autumn Test

South Africa: Points & Margin: 38-0, 1912 Tour Match 

Individual Records In The Series Since 2000:

Most Points In A Match: Ireland 17 (Ronan O’Gara, 2004 Autumn Test); South Africa 16 (Percy Montgomery, 2004 Summer Second Test)

Most Tries In A Match: Ireland 1 (by ten players); South Africa 2 (Bakkies Botha, 2004 Summer Tour First Test)

Top Points Scorers – Ireland v South Africa Since 2000: 

54 – Ronan O’Gara
36 – Percy Montgomery
11 – Gaffie du Toit
10 – Tyrone Howe, Bakkies Botha, Shane Horgan

Top Try Scorers – Ireland v South Africa Since 2000: 

2 – Tyrone Howe, Bakkies Botha, Shane Horgan
1 – Denis Hickie, Joost van der Westhuizen, Andre Venter, Wayne Julies, Pedrie Wannenburg, Brian O’Driscoll, Jaque Fourie Breyton Paulse, Ronan O’Gara, Marcus Horan, Andrew Trimble, David Wallace, Bryan Habana, Francois Steyn 

Ireland – Form Guide From Start Of The 2008 Six Nations:

Won 16-11 v Italy home (Six Nations)
Lost 26-21 v France away (Six Nations)
Won 34-13 v Scotland home (Six Nations)
Lost 16-12 v Wales home (Six Nations)
Lost 33-10 v England away (Six Nations)
Lost 21-11 v New Zealand away (Summer Tour)
Lost 18-12 v Australia away (Summer Tour)
Won 55-0 v Canada home (Autumn Series)
Lost 22-3 v New Zealand home (Autumn Series)
Won 17-3 v Argentina home (Autumn Series)
Won 30-21 v France home (Six Nations)
Won 38-9 v Italy away (Six Nations)
Won 14-13 v England home (Six Nations)
Won 22-15 v Scotland away (Six Nations)
Won 17-15 v Wales away (Six Nations)
Won 25-6 v Canada away (Summer Tour)
Won 27-10 v USA away (Summer Tour)
Drew 20-20 v Australia home (Autumn Series)
Won 41-6 v Fiji home (Autumn Series)

South Africa – Form Guide From Start Of The 2008 Test Season:

Won 43-17 v Wales home (Summer Series)
Won 37-21 v Wales home (Summer Series)
Won 26-0 v Italy home (Summer Series)
Lost 19-8 v New Zealand away (Tri Nations)
Won 30-28 v New Zealand away (Tri Nations)
Lost 16-9 v Australia away (Tri Nations)
Won 63-9 v Argentina home (Summer Series)
Lost 19-0 v New Zealand home (Tri Nations)
Lost 27-15 v Australia home (Tri Nations)
Won 53-8 v Australia home (Tri Nations)
Won 20-15 v Wales away (Autumn Tour)
Won 14-10 v Scotland away (Autumn Tour)
Won 42-6 v England away (Autumn Tour)
Won 26-21 v British & Irish Lions home (Lions Test Series)
Won 28-25 v British & Irish Lions home (Lions Test Series)
Lost 28-9 v British & Irish Lions home (Lions Test Series)
Won 28-19 v New Zealand home (Tri Nations)
Won 31-19 v New Zealand home (Tri Nations)
Won 29-17 v Australia home (Tri Nations)
Won 32-25 v Australia away (Tri Nations)
Lost 21-6 v Australia away (Tri Nations)
Won 32-29 v New Zealand away (Tri Nations)
Lost 20-13 v France away (Autumn Tour)
Won 32-10 v Italy away (Autumn Tour)

Ireland – Most-Capped Players:

96 John Hayes
95 Brian O’Driscoll
93 Ronan O’Gara
92 Malcolm O’Kelly
91 Peter Stringer
82 Girvan Dempsey
72 David Humphreys
70 Kevin Maggs
69 Mike Gibson
66 Marcus Horan
65 Simon Easterby
65 Shane Horgan

Ireland – All-Time Leading Points Scorers:

929 Ronan O’Gara
560 David Humphreys
308 Michael Kiernan
296 Eric Elwood
217 Ollie Campbell
205 Brian O’Driscoll

Ireland – All-Time Leading Try Scorers:

38 Brian O’Driscoll
29 Denis Hickie
21 Shane Horgan
19 Girvan Dempsey
18 Geordan Murphy
17 Brendan Mullin
15 Keith Wood
15 Kevin Maggs
14 George Stephenson
14 Ronan O’Gara

South Africa – Most-Capped Players:

102 Percy Montgomery
92 John Smit
91 Victor Matfield
89 Joost van der Westhuizen
80 Os du Randt
77 Mark Andrews
66 Andre Venter
65 Bakkies Botha

South Africa – All-Time Leading Points Scorers:

893 Percy Montgomery
312 Naas Botha
240 Joel Stransky
221 Braam van Straaten
190 Joost van der Westhuizen
181 Jannie de Beer
180 Bryan Habana
171 Andre Pretorius

South Africa – All-Time Leading Try Scorers:

38 Joost van der Westhuizen
36 Bryan Habana
28 Jaque Fourie
26 Breyton Paulse
25 Percy Montgomery

World Rugby All-Time Top Points Scorers:

1125 Jonny Wilkinson (1058-England, 67-Lions)
1090 Neil Jenkins (1049-Wales, 41-Lions)
1010 Diego Dominguez (983-Italy, 27-Argentina)
980 Dan Carter (New Zealand)
967 Andrew Mehrtens (New Zealand)
929 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
911 Michael Lynagh (Australia)
893 Percy Montgomery (South Africa)
878 Matt Burke (Australia)
775 Stephen Jones (722-Wales, 53-Lions)
741 Chris Paterson (Scotland)
733 Gavin Hastings (667-Scotland, 66-Lions)

World Rugby All-Time Top Try Scorers:

64 David Campese (Australia)
50 Rory Underwood (49-England, 1-Lions)
50 Shane Williams (48-Wales, 2-Lions)
49 Doug Howlett (New Zealand)
46 Christian Cullen (New Zealand)
45 Joe Rokocoko (New Zealand)
44 Jeff Wilson (New Zealand)
41 Gareth Thomas (40-Wales, 1-Lions)
40 Chris Latham (Australia)
39 Brian O’Driscoll (38-Ireland, 1-Lions)

Note: Daisuke Ohata scored 69 tries for Japan, but not all against major international opposition

The ‘100 Caps’ Club:

139 George Gregan (Australia)
119 Jason Leonard (114-England, 5-Lions)
118 Fabien Pelous (France)
111 Philippe Sella (France)
109 George Smith (Australia)
103 Gareth Thomas (100-Wales, 3-Lions)
102 Stephen Larkham (Australia)
102 Percy Montgomery (South Africa)
101 David Campese (Australia)
101 Brian O’Driscoll (95-Ireland, 6-Lions)
101 Alessandro Troncon (Italy)

Related Links –

Can’t make the game? You can still download the Ireland v South Africa match programme to your iPhone – click here.

Don’t have an iPhone? Don’t worry! You can keep up-to-date with all the Irish rugby news on your mobile – text IRFU to 51000.