Rugby is one of South Africa's big three sports, alongside soccer and cricket. South Africa have reached the semi finals during the World cup 2015.
For the many South African fans of the game, rugby is a serious matter, a source of bursting pride and joy - or shattering disappointment.
The country has traditionally fared extremely well on the world stage, and South African fans expect their national team to win every game it plays.
The changing face of South African rugby
Sport, like no other South African institution, has shown it has the power to heal old wounds.
When the Springboks won the Rugby World Cup on home turf in 1995, Nelson Mandela donned the No 6 shirt of the team's captain - Francois Pienaar, a white Afrikaner - and the two embraced in a spontaneous gesture of racial reconciliation that melted hearts around the country.
A single moment, and 400 years of colonial strife and bitterness ... suddenly seemed so petty.
For the disadvantaged people of the old apartheid South Africa, rugby was the white man's game, and even more so the game of the Afrikaner. Traditionally, most communities of colour played soccer while, for white communities, rugby was the winter sport of choice.
Things have changed in South Africa since 1994, however, and the South African Rugby Football Union has been working hard to make rugby the game of all South Africans, mainly through an active development programme throughout the country.
At provincial age-group levels, players of colour are playing an increasingly prominent role as the development programme and the quota system begin to bear fruit.
Through the quota system, players of colour are being given the opportunity to compete at the higher levels of the game, and a growing number are showing that they belong there by securing places in Super 14 teams and - the highest honour for a South African rugby player - in the Springbok side.
The Springboks
The Springboks are the national rugby team and traditionally one of the sport's international powerhouses. Every talented South African youngster dreams of one day wearing "the green and gold".
The Boks have an outstanding international scoresheet, and for many years enjoyed a winning record against all other nations, until a slight slump in performances after South Africa's return from international isolation in 1992.
New Zealand's All Blacks now hold a slight edge in head-to-head meetings with the Springboks, but the South Africans retain a winning record against all other countries.
There have been five big highlights since South Africa's return from international isolation. The first of these took place in 1995 when the country hosted rugby's biggest tournament, the World Cup.
The Springboks made it through to the final at Ellis Park where, spurred on by a frenzied home crowd, and with the whole of South Africa willing them on, they trumped the All Blacks 15-12 in extra time to lift the sport's most coveted trophy.
The Boks' display, opening with a win over defending champions Australia and finishing with victory over favourites New Zealand, united the country, bringing people of all colours together just a year after South Africa's first democratic elections.
The second highlight occurred in 1998, when South Africa broke New Zealand's hold on the Tri-Nations, a competition that matches up the "big three" of the southern hemisphere, with Australia completing the trio.
The Kiwis had won the first two competitions without losing a match, but Gary Teichmann's 1998 side showed spirit and poise in winning all four of their matches to lift the title for the first time.
The third highlight included the Springboks' 1998 Tri-Nations title and went beyond it. It was a run of 17 victories in succession, equalling the world record run by New Zealand between 1965 and 1970 (which, appropriately, was halted by South Africa).
During their 1997/98 run, South Africa defeated Australia, New Zealand, France, England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Italy - all of them, with the exception of Italy, teams rated amongst the world's elite.
After a rough period, during which Springbok coaches came and went with alarming rapidity, Jake White was appointed coach in 2003. He would go on to lead the team in more matches than any other Springbok coach. He was also at the helm when the fourth great highlight was achieved.
In October 2007, South Africa beat England 15-6 in the final of the World Cup in Paris, after advancing through the tournament unbeaten, to join Australia as the only two-time winner of the William Webb Ellis Trophy.
Not long afterwards, Jake White was named International Rugby Board (IRB) Coach of the Year and Bryan Habana IRB Player of the Year. The Springboks were named IRB Team of the Year and, at the Laureus Sports Awards in February 2008, World Sports Team of the Year.
The following year they captured their third Tri-Nations title, defeating the All Blacks three times on their way to the title. They also beat the British and Irish Lions 2-1 in a three-match series.
In New Zealand, in the 2011 Rugby World Cup, the Springboks won all of their pool matches, defeating Wales, Namibia, Fiji, and Samoa. They exited the tournament at the quarterfinals stage, falling 11-9 to Australia, which, incredibly, was the sole statistic they trailed the Wallabies by when the match was over.
Read more: http://www.southafrica.info/about/sport/rugby.htm#.VjDbzLd4uM9#ixzz3psBkJRNj
Morgan, B. (2015). Rugby in South Africa. Retrieved from: http://www.southafrica.info/about/sport/rugby.htm#.VjDbzLd4uM9#ixzz3psBkJRNj