The Most Famous

RUGBY PLAYERS from South Africa

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This page contains a list of the greatest South African Rugby Players. The pantheon dataset contains 35 Rugby Players, 4 of which were born in South Africa. This makes South Africa the birth place of the 3rd most number of Rugby Players behind New Zealand, and France.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary South African Rugby Players of all time. This list of famous South African Rugby Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of South African Rugby Players.

Photo of Francois Pienaar

1. Francois Pienaar (b. 1967)

With an HPI of 47.09, Francois Pienaar is the most famous South African Rugby Player.  Her biography has been translated into 21 different languages on wikipedia.

Jacobus Francois Pienaar (born 2 January 1967) is a retired South African rugby union player. He played flanker for South Africa (the Springboks) from 1993 until 1996, winning 29 international caps, all of them as captain. He is best known for leading South Africa to victory in the 1995 Rugby World Cup. After being dropped from the Springbok team in 1996, Pienaar went on to a career with English club Saracens.

Photo of Joost van der Westhuizen

2. Joost van der Westhuizen (1971 - 2017)

With an HPI of 38.53, Joost van der Westhuizen is the 2nd most famous South African Rugby Player.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Joost van der Westhuizen (20 February 1971 – 6 February 2017) was a South African professional rugby union player who made 89 appearances in test matches for the national team, scoring 38 tries. He mostly played as a scrum-half and participated in three Rugby World Cups, most notably in the 1995 tournament, which was won by South Africa. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest scrumhalves of all time. He captained the national side on ten occasions and was part of the team that won South Africa's first Tri-Nations title in 1998. Domestically he played for the provincial side the Blue Bulls from 1993 to 2003, with whom he won two domestic Currie Cup trophies in 1998 and 2002, and from 1996 until his retirement in 2003 played Super 12 rugby for Northern Bulls (later renamed the Bulls). He was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame in 2007 and later into the World Rugby Hall of Fame. In 2011, it was announced that van der Westhuizen had motor neurone disease. He eventually began using a wheelchair and experienced speech problems, yet still raised awareness of the disease through his charity, the J9 Foundation.

Photo of Bryan Habana

3. Bryan Habana (b. 1983)

With an HPI of 37.79, Bryan Habana is the 3rd most famous South African Rugby Player.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Bryan Gary Habana OIS (born 12 June 1983) is a South African former professional rugby union player. Playing mainly as a wing, he is widely considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. He played for the Golden Lions, the Blue Bulls and Western Province in South Africa, for the Bulls and the Stormers in Super Rugby, and for Toulon in the French Top 14, and won 124 caps for the South Africa national team. Habana was part of the South Africa team that won the 2007 Rugby World Cup and was one of the stars of the tournament, his eight tries equalling the record for a single tournament set by Jonah Lomu in 1999. He was subsequently named the 2007 IRB Player of the Year. During the 2015 Rugby World Cup Habana equalled Lomu's career record of 15 tries in World Cups. He is in second place among all time test try scorers, with 67 tries.

Photo of Eben Etzebeth

4. Eben Etzebeth (b. 1991)

With an HPI of 35.23, Eben Etzebeth is the 4th most famous South African Rugby Player.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Eben Etzebeth (born 29 October 1991) is a South African professional rugby union player who currently plays for the Sharks in the United Rugby Championship and the South Africa national rugby team. He made his international debut for the Springboks in 2012 and has since won 128 caps making him the Springboks' most capped player. His regular playing position is as a loosehead lock (number 4). He is often considered one of the best locks to have ever played for South Africa.

Photo of Cheslin Kolbe

5. Cheslin Kolbe (b. 1993)

With an HPI of 34.50, Cheslin Kolbe is the 5th most famous South African Rugby Player.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Cheslin Kolbe (born 28 October 1993) is a South African professional rugby union player who currently plays for Tokyo Sungoliath in the Japan Rugby League One and the South Africa national team. His regular position is wing, but he also plays at fullback. He has also recently featured at fly half for Toulouse in the Top 14, and as a scrum half internationally. Kolbe was a member of the South Africa Sevens team that won a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics. He has won the Rugby World Cup twice with South Africa, in 2019 and 2023. Kolbe was nominated for 2019 World Rugby Player of the Year but lost to teammate Pieter-Steph du Toit. He previously played for Toulouse, Toulon, Stormers, and Western Province. He has also won the Rugby Championship and the Lions Series with the Springboks, the Top14 and Champions Cup with Toulouse, the Currie Cup with Western Province, and the Challenge Cup with Toulon. He is one of the highest paid rugby players in the world, with a reported salary of between ¥130–155 million yen per season. He has scored 14 tries in 31 tests for South Africa. He is one of the fastest rugby players ever with a time of 10.70 for the 100m. Kolbe is famous for his outstanding defensive capabilities-despite his diminutive frame-and stunning stepping and speed, as well as power in contact. He made his debut for South Africa in 2018 in a 23–18 loss to Australia. He rapidly became more well known and was soon regarded as a world-class player.

Photo of Siya Kolisi

6. Siya Kolisi (b. 1991)

With an HPI of 32.31, Siya Kolisi is the 6th most famous South African Rugby Player.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Siyamthanda "Siya" Kolisi , (born 16 June 1991) is a South African professional rugby union player who currently captains the South Africa national team. Having formerly played for the Stormers and Racing 92, he currently plays for Sharks in the URC. He generally plays as a flanker and a loose forward. In 2018, Kolisi was appointed captain of the Springboks, becoming the first black man to hold the position and eventually leading the South African Rugby team to victory in the 2019 Rugby World Cup Final against England, and again in the 2023 Rugby World Cup Final against New Zealand. In December 2019, Kolisi was named in New African magazine's list of 100 Most Influential Africans. In April 2023, Kolisi was bestowed the National Order of Ikhamanga by the South African Government for his contributions to rugby. In October 2023, Siya Kolisi captained South Africa to a historic fourth Rugby World Cup in Paris, France, and became only the second captain to win the title back-to-back. Kolisi is one of 44 players who have won the Rugby World Cup on multiple occasions and one of 25 South Africans to do so.

Photo of Schalk Burger

7. Schalk Burger (b. 1983)

With an HPI of 29.98, Schalk Burger is the 7th most famous South African Rugby Player.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Schalk Willem Petrus Burger Jr. (born 13 April 1983) is a South African former professional rugby union player. He played as a flanker for Saracens in the English Premiership and has won 86 caps for South Africa. He was a member of the 2007 Rugby World Cup-winning team, has twice been named South African Rugby Player of the Year (in 2004 and 2011), and was named IRB Player of the Year in 2004, among other accolades. He also holds the record for the most appearances (84) and most tries scored (13) by a Springbok flanker. However, Burger's physical approach has also resulted in him being shown a yellow card six times in international rugby, second only to Italy's Marco Bortolami (7 times) as of June 2014. Burger has also suffered injuries, especially to his neck and knee, which have sidelined him for considerable periods at a time. He has also played four times for the Barbarians.

Photo of Rosko Specman

8. Rosko Specman (b. 1989)

With an HPI of 0.00, Rosko Specman is the 8th most famous South African Rugby Player.  His biography has been translated into different languages.

Rosko Shane Specman (born 28 April 1989) is a South African rugby union player for the Bulls in Super Rugby, the Blue Bulls in the Currie Cup and the Blue Bulls XV in the Rugby Challenge. He played rugby sevens for the South Africa national rugby sevens team between 2014 and 2018 and also played Currie Cup rugby with the Sharks from 2010 to 2012, the Pumas from 2013 to 2015 and the Free State Cheetahs in 2017. His usual position is winger. Specman was a member of the South African Sevens team that won a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Photo of Stedman Gans

9. Stedman Gans (b. 1997)

With an HPI of 0.00, Stedman Gans is the 9th most famous South African Rugby Player.  His biography has been translated into different languages.

Stedman-Ghee Rivett Gans (born 19 March 1997) is a South African rugby sevens player for the South Africa national team and a rugby union player for the Bulls in the United Rugby Championship and the Blue Bulls in the Currie Cup. He usually plays as a centre or a winger.

Photo of Chris Dry

10. Chris Dry (b. 1988)

With an HPI of 0.00, Chris Dry is the 10th most famous South African Rugby Player.  His biography has been translated into different languages.

Christopher Adriaan Dry (born 13 February 1988) is a South African professional rugby union player, currently playing with the South African Sevens team in the Sevens World Series. His regular position is a flanker.

People

Pantheon has 19 people classified as South African rugby players born between 1967 and 1999. Of these 19, 18 (94.74%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living South African rugby players include Francois Pienaar, Bryan Habana, and Eben Etzebeth. The most famous deceased South African rugby players include Joost van der Westhuizen. As of April 2024, 15 new South African rugby players have been added to Pantheon including Eben Etzebeth, Cheslin Kolbe, and Siya Kolisi.

Living South African Rugby Players

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Deceased South African Rugby Players

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Newly Added South African Rugby Players (2024)

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