Following a remarkable year for the Springboks, we run through the numbers and highlight 33 stats and facts from 2024.
Rassie Erasmus‘ charges kick started their season at Twickenham defeating Wales before a drawn series with Ireland in South Africa and a first-ever Test against Portugal.
The Springboks would then begin their Rugby Championship campaign in Australia where they beat the Wallabies in back-to-back Tests before returning home to face New Zealand.
They defeated their old rivals in Johannesburg and Cape Town before falling to a narrow defeat to Los Pumas and then beating the same opposition on home soil to seal the Rugby Championship – their first since 2019.
Following this Erasmus’ men embarked on their tour to the United Kingdom where they claimed successive victories over Scotland, England and Wales to end the year on top of the World Rugby rankings.
Rassie Erasmus’ rotation
Reprising his role as the Boks’ head coach, Erasmus was eager to blood in the next generation of stars with many of the double World Cup winners entering the twilights of their careers.
In doing so, he made use of 50 players in total and utilised four captains – Siya Kolsi, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Eben Etzebeth and Salmaan Moerat. Despite his heavy rotation, he still boasted an 84.6% win rate with just two players receiving call-ups to the squad without earning a cap – Nico Janse van Rensburg.
Erasmus issued 12 Test debuts in 2024 including five forwards and seven backs, namely: Jordan Hendrikse, Edwill van der Merwe, Ben-Jason Dixon, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Johan Grobbelaar, Phepsi Buthelezi, Morne van den Berg, Andre-Hugo Venter, Ruan Venter, Quan Horn and Cameron Hanekom.
Tries scorers and stats
Hendrikse, Van der Merwe, Dixon, Wessels, Andre-Hugo Venter and Horn all scored their first tries for the Boks in their rookie seasons while Steenekamp also grabbed his maiden try after debuting in 2023.
Speaking of tries, the Springboks scored 57 in total including two penalty tries with Makazole Mapimpi topping the charts with six and was closely followed by Aphelele Fassi and Kurt-Lee Arendse who scored five each. Forwards Du Toit and Malcolm Marx both grabbed four tries in 2024, the joint-most by forwards. Mapimpi’s tally in 2024 saw him take his total in Green and Gold to 32 and joint-third on the Boks all-time list just six behind Joost van der Westhuizen but still 35 adrift from Bryan Habana.
Springboks: Makazole Mapimpi equals Jaque Fourie’s tally on South Africa’s all-time try scorers list
The 57 tries in 2024 is the third-highest number of tries in the season since 1992 in the process – the most being in 2007 when they scored 81 tries, while they scored 74 five-pointers in 1997 when Erasmus donned the green and gold jersey himself.
While the attack was steaming this year, the defence remained strong conceding just 23 tries and managed to keep three clean sheets, doing so against Australia, New Zealand and Scotland.
It was the first time since 2018 that the All Blacks failed to score a try in a Test match with the Boks last holding them try-less in 1999. The two wins over their old foe means that South Africa are also on a four-game winning run over New Zealand – a record-equalling streak.
South Africa started the year at the summit of the World Rugby rankings and although they did drop to second for a period, however, they end the year in the same position they started it in.
Check out all 33 of our stats and facts from the Springboks year in 2024 – with some help from SA Rugby.
Springboks’ 2024 in numbers
1 – World Rugby ranking at the start and end of the year
13 – Tests played
11 – Tests won
2 – Tests lost
84.6% – The Springboks’ win ratio in 2024
1 – The losing margin in the defeats to Ireland and Argentina
57 – Tries scored
3 – That is the third most tries the Springboks have scored in a season since 1992
2 – The Springboks were awarded two penalty tries
6 – Makazole Mapimpi topped the scoring for the Springboks in 2024, dotting down six times
4 – Malcolm Marx and Pieter-Steph du Toit both scored four tries in 2024, the joint-most by a forward
23 – tries conceded
3 – Clean sheets against Australia, New Zealand and Scotland
67 – The number of consecutive Tests that the All Blacks scored tries in before being held try-less in Cape Town
2018 – The last time the All Blacks were held try-less before 2024 (v Ireland in Dublin)
451 – Points scored
74 – Handre Pollard topped the points scoring for the Springboks with 74; Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu notched the second-best tally (52)
220 – Points conceded
50 – Players used
12 – Test debuts
5 – Backs made their Test debuts for the Springboks
7 – Forwards made their Test debuts in 2024
2 – Players reached the 50 Test cap mark, Kwagga Smith and Vincent Koch
35 – Players used over the three November internationals, only Jean Kleyn travelled with the squad and did not play
4 – Captains (Kolisi, Moerat, Du Toit and Etzebeth)
3 – World Rugby Player of the Year nominations (Du Toit, Etzebeth and Kolbe)
131 – How many Test caps Eben Etzebeth now has after surpassing Victor Matfield (127) as the most capped Springbok of all-time
2019 – The Springboks won the Rugby Championship for the first time since 2019
2009 – Erasmus’ also ended a 15-year-long wait to win the Freedom Cup having last held it in 2009
4 – Following the back-to-back wins over the All Blacks, the Springboks are now on a four-game winning streak against New Zealand
11 – For the first time since 2013, South Africa went unbeaten in November
2013 – That year was also the last time that the Springboks defeated the Wallabies in Brisbane before doing so again in 2024
8 – The Boks faced eight different teams in 2024: Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Argentina (all twice), Scotland, England and Portugal
READ MORE: Readers’ Awards: Last chance for Rassie Erasmus? Cast your vote and get justice for props
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/springboks-33-stats-and-facts-from-2024-as-rassie-erasmus-men-enjoy-record-breaking-year
