South Africa at the Rugby World Cup South Africa at the Rugby World Cup South Africa have played at six of the eight Rugby World Cup tournaments, having been unable to compete in the first two tournaments due to a sports boycott during the apartheid era. Following the end of apartheid, they hosted the 1995 Rugby World Cup and won the tournament, and were champions again at the 2007 tournament in France. With two tournament wins, they are one of the three best performing teams, along with Australia who have also won twice, and New Zealand with three wins, the only team to do better. South Africa
2023 Rugby World Cup host cities were selected. This list was later reduced to 9 cities (excluding Paris, Montpellier and Lens) : The Rugby World Cup may expand from its current 20 teams for the 2023 tournament. A total of 12 teams will have gained automatic qualification to the tournament after finishing in the top three of their pool at the 2019 Rugby World Cup. while France automatically qualifies as host. The below table shows the qualified teams with their World Rankings as of first tournament date (8 September 2023): 2023 Rugby World Cup The 2023 Rugby World Cup, to be hosted by France,