History of rugby union matches between Ireland and South Africa
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The Ireland and South Africa rugby union teams have a rivalry dating back to 1906. The Springboks of South Africa dominated their early meetings, as have the other southern hemisphere giants, with the Irish winning just once against South Africa prior to 2004, but results have since turned in Ireland's favour, winning eight of the twelves matches between the sides since 2004. Following Ireland's tour win over New Zealand in 2022, South Africa are the only major Southern Hemisphere team over which Ireland has not achieved a series victory.
In 2023, in their first ever Rugby World Cup meeting, and first meeting on neutral soil, Ireland (ranked number one in the world) prevailed 13-8 over (defending champions and world ranked number two) South Africa, the first time first and second in the world rankings had ever met at the pool stages of a Rugby World Cup.
Since South Africa's return to international rugby in 1995 following the end of apartheid in South Africa, the nations have played 20 times, with South Africa leading by 12 wins to eight.