42 wins in 49 Tests: These Springboks are simply relentless

There are statistics and then there are statements. The Springboks, under Rassie Erasmus and Siya Kolisi, have made one hell of a statement in their last 49 Tests.

Jacques Nienaber, who was head coach in 2022 and 2023 while Erasmus was Springboks Director of Rugby, has made as big a contribution to the most unrivalled period in the history of the Springboks.

Since beating Italy 63-21 in Genoa on 19 November 2022, South Africa have played 49 Test matches and won 42.

That is an 85.7 percent winning return across almost four years of international rugby.

Read it again: 42 wins from 49 Tests.

The Boks’ 42 wins have come across 25 stadiums and 22 cities, against 14 different nations. Home, away or neutral, geography has made precious little difference.

This is not a sequence built on beating rugby’s lesser nations. It includes a World Cup title, successive Rugby Championship titles, victories against every one of the game’s traditional heavyweights and wins at some of rugby’s most intimidating venues. It also includes the most recent home series win against great rivals the All Blacks.

It includes beating the All Blacks in a World Cup final in Paris in 2023, smashing the All Blacks 35-7 at Twickenham pre the World Cup win, beating them twice in South Africa in 2024, humiliating them 43-10 in Wellington in 2025 and now beating them twice in succession in Cape Town and Soweto in 2026.

Saturday’s 29-24 win at the FNB Stadium was the latest addition.

The Boks have won in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria, Durban, Mbombela and Bloemfontein.

They have also won in London, Paris, Marseille, Bordeaux, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Dublin, Genoa, Turin, Brisbane, Perth, Wellington and Buenos Aires.

Home or away, it has made very little difference.

The Springboks numbers tell the story

The starting point is Genoa on 19 November 2022, when the Boks scored nine tries in beating Italy 63-21. A week later they went to Twickenham and beat England 27-13.

South Africa then won 11 of 13 Tests in 2023, culminating in the successful defence of the World Cup.

They beat Scotland, Romania and Tonga in the pool stages, lost only to Ireland and then produced three successive one-point knockout victories against France, England and New Zealand.

France were beaten 29-28 in Paris.

England were beaten 16-15 in Paris.

The All Blacks were beaten 12-11 in Paris.

World champions. Again.

In 2024, the Boks again won 11 of 13 Tests – an 84.6 percent return – and added the Rugby Championship title. They beat the All Blacks twice, Australia twice in Australia and finished the year by winning all three Tests on their northern tour against Scotland, England and Wales.

Then came 2025.

Twelve wins from 14 Tests.

Another Rugby Championship title.

The Boks won 43-10 against the All Blacks in Wellington, beat Argentina 67-30 in Durban and 29-27 at Twickenham, and then swept their November tour.

Japan were beaten 61-7 at Wembley, France 32-17 in Paris, Italy 32-14 in Turin, Ireland 24-13 in Dublin and Wales 73-0 in Cardiff.

That French win mattered. So did Ireland.

These weren’t wins against weakened opponents in South Africa. They were victories against two of the world’s strongest teams in their own countries.

And the winning has continued in 2026.

England were beaten 45-21 at Ellis Park, Scotland 42-28 at Loftus, Wales 43-0 in Durban and Argentina 17-10 in Buenos Aires.

The All Blacks then arrived.

New Zealand won the opening Test 33-16 at Ellis Park, but the response has been emphatic.

South Africa won 33-26 in Cape Town and 29-24 at the FNB Stadium to lead Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series 2-1.

49 Tests. 42 wins.

Put all of it together and the scale of what the Springboks have done becomes extraordinary.

Played: 49
Won: 42
Lost: 7
Drawn: 0
Win percentage: 85.7%

And within those 49 Tests are wins against New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, England, France, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Italy, Japan, Georgia, Portugal, Tonga and Romania.

There has been a World Cup.

There have been two Rugby Championship titles.

There have been wins against England at home and away.

France have been beaten in France – twice if the 2023 World Cup quarter-final in Paris is included.

Ireland have been beaten at home and in Dublin.

Australia have been beaten in Australia.

Argentina have been beaten in Argentina.

And the All Blacks have been beaten in Paris, London, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Wellington and Soweto.

The Boks have not been unbeatable. Ireland beat them at the 2023 World Cup. New Zealand won at Mount Smart in Auckland in 2023, Argentina won at home in 2024, Australia shocked them at Ellis Park in 2025 and the All Blacks have beaten them twice during this period, with both wins coming at Ellis Park.

But seven defeats in 49 Tests is the exception.

Winning is the habit.

The wider Erasmus era also includes the 2019 World Cup and the come from behind 2021 British & Irish Lions 2-1 series victory.

That is probably the most remarkable part of the story.

The Boks’ winning percentage away from South Africa is 83.3%.

There has effectively been no home-ground dependency. They win 85% at home and 83.3% away.

SPRINGBOKS’ RECORD AGAINST EVERY OPPONENT

The quality of opposition kills any suggestion that the percentage is inflated by softer Tests. Forty of the 49 Tests have been against New Zealand, Australia, Argentina or Six Nations opposition. The Boks have won 33 of those 40 82.5%. The underlying results are recorded across the 2022-26 match lists.

AGAINST THE BIG THREE SOUTHERN RIVALS

Seven wins in the last 10 Tests against the All Blacks is particularly significant.

Those seven include 35-7 at Twickenham, 12-11 in the World Cup final, successive wins at Ellis Park and Cape Town in 2024, 43-10 in Wellington in 2025, and 33-26 in Cape Town and 29-24 at FNB Stadium in 2026.

AGAINST THE SIX NATIONS

That is a phenomenal number:

Played 22 against the Six Nations. Won 20.

And both defeats were against Ireland 13-8 at the 2023 World Cup and 25-24 in Durban in 2024.

The Boks are therefore 18 wins from 18 against England, France, Scotland, Wales and Italy during this sequence.

THE YEAR-BY-YEAR DOMINANCE

WHERE THE SPRINGBOKS HAVE PLAYED SINCE 19 NOVEMBER 2022

TOTAL: 9 countries | 22 cities | 25 stadiums/venues | 14 different Test opponents

THE 49 TESTS

2022 Played 2, won 2

The sequence starts with the 63-21 win in Genoa and a week later the Boks beat England 27-13 at Twickenham.

2023 Played 13, won 11

2024 Played 13, won 11

11 wins from 13. Rugby Championship champions.

2025 Played 14, won 12

12 wins from 14. Rugby Championship champions again.

That made the Springboks back-to-back Rugby Championship winners.

The end-of-year tour is worth isolating: Japan 61-7, France 32-17, Italy 32-14, Ireland 24-13 and Wales 73-0. Five Tests, five wins. The Dublin win was South Africa’s first there for more than a decade.

2026 Played 7, won 6

THE SEVEN DEFEATS

So of 49 Tests, only four countries have beaten South Africa at all: New Zealand three times, Ireland twice, Argentina once and Australia once.

England, France, Scotland, Wales and Italy have played South Africa 18 times between them without winning once.

THE ENGLAND STORY

South Africa are four from four against England since Genoa:

Home, away and neutral: England have not beaten these Boks.

THE FRANCE STORY

The 2023 quarter-final was technically a neutral World Cup Test despite being played in France, whereas the 2025 victory was a true away Test against France.

THE IRELAND STORY

Ireland are the only Six Nations country to have beaten South Africa in these 49 Tests.

But the Boks have now beaten Ireland at home and away, including the breakthrough 24-13 win at the Aviva Stadium in November 2025.

WHAT THE SPRINGBOKS HAVE WON IN THIS 49-TEST WINDOW

The 2019 World Cup falls outside this 49-Test statistical window, but it is relevant when describing the broader generation: this Springbok era has won back-to-back World Cups, 2019 and 2023.

The same distinction has to be made with the British & Irish Lions. South Africa’s series win 2021 cannot be described as achievements “during these 49 Tests”. The 2021 Lions series belongs to the Rassie Erasmus and Siya Kolisi golden Springbok championship generation.