Springbok Rugby Players and Their Nicknames Quiz

Answer: Siyamathanda

Siya has a really interesting back story rising from living in poverty in the Eastern Cape to becoming an international superstar. He captained the team to World Cup victory in 2019 & 2023. He is the first player of colour to captain the Springboks and his leadership style has molded these players of such diverse backgrounds into an extremely unified team.

Answer: Rudolph Gerhardus

RG has played a lot of rugby in Ireland but his Afrikaans roots are strong, so his initials are given Afrikaans pronunciation - Err Ghee rather than Ar G. He played in both the 2019 & 2023 World Cup as is a member of the so called "bomb squad" that notoriously enters the match after 60 minutes or so have been played and exert tremendous physical pressure on tiring opponents. RG is easilly recognised both by his height and mohawk style haircut.

Answer: Immanuel

Manie is a highly talented fly half who plays for the Stormers. His general play and marshalling of the backline is outstanding. He was new to the Springbok setup at the 2023 World Cup where he was selected as the sole fly-half in the squad. His place kicking went a bit awry during the early rounds of the championship but South Africa were able, because of injury to other squad members, draft Handre Pollard back into the squad. Pollard had been injured at the time the original squad was announced and was the first choice fly-half at the 2019 World Cup.

Answer: Thor

Duane played in both the 2019 & 2023 Rugby World Cup finals and is recognized as being one of the "hard men" of the team. He has twice been voted SA Rugby Player of the year and was nominated as International Player of the year in 2014. He signed off as an international rugby player after the 2023 World Cup Final. He too, is not actually "Duane", but is actually Daniel Johannes.

Answer: Albertus Stephanus

Kwagga Smith rose to prominence paying for the Springboks 7 a side team the Blitzboks. He has successfully transformed himself into a fantastic 15 a side player and was called up for the 2023 World Cup Squad. He has very highly developed defensive and ball turnover skills which comes from his years playing 7's.

These skills give coaches the confidence to have the audacity to have a substitution bench or "Bomb Squad" made up primarily of forwards to give the team greater grunt in the last quarter of the match.

The risk in this is that if a backline player is injured and needs to be substituted it would be by a forward and a player like Kwagga can easily play a backline role.

Answer: Drex

Makazole grew up in rural Eastern Cape, an area with high mortality rate due to AIDS and other viruses. At one point Springbok players were given the opportunity to create the numbers on their jerseys using mini portraits of their family. He was only able to provide a picture of himself as his parents and siblings had all died. Sadly, he was injured in the second of the round robin matches of the 2023 tournament and had to return to South Africa but when the Springboks made the Final he was flown back to Paris to celebrate the victory with his team mates.

Answer: Francois

With his flowing blond hair, he is difficult to miss on the field and is often seen getting in the face of opponents. Apart from him being part of both the 2019 & 2023 winning team his other claim to fame is wearing a Speedo swimsuit patterned to match the South African flag.

Answer: Retshegofaditswe

His friends didn't give him the nickname Ox, but rather shortened his name to "Tshego". Ox, although already having already, played for the Springboks, was not selected for the 2019 squad having to play second fiddle to the great Tendai "the Beast" Mtawarira.

Another interesting fact being that he is the second Springbok to be given the nickname Ox - the first being Os (ox in Afrikaans) Durant who is the first South African player to receive 2 RWC winners medals in 1995 & 2007.

Answer: Spicy Plum

This nickname in all likelihood originated at the Stormers where he was teammates with the likes of Jean de Villiers and Schalk Burger who latched on to this name due to his flaming red hair! Kitshoff was part of the "Bomb Squad" in the 2019 team in the final that year but was in the starting team in 2023.

Answer: Mbongeni

Having been in the 2019 Cup winning team, Bongi ended up as being the sole first choice hooker in the 2023 Springbok Squad after Malcom Marx was injured. He was ably backed up in the minor pool games by veteran Deon Fourie who was in the squad as a flank and not hooker. Bongi was injured early in the 2023 WC Final and Deon replaced him very successfully on the field.