It may not matter where you were born, but it’s interesting to learn in which SA city more Springboks took their first breath than any other.
In the biggest picture it might not matter where they were born, but it’s still interesting to learn in which More Springboks than any other city in South Africa took their first breath.
Upon the completion of the Rugby World Cup in France last year, 933 players had received Springbok caps.
Gerhard Steenekamp is the 933rd and most recent player to have worn the renowned green and gold colors of the current world champions. The first Springbok was Benjamin Duff in 1891.
Ten or more Springboks can be counted as Old Boys at no less than fifteen schools.
The majority of Springboks, including Paul Roos himself, have come from Stellenbosch’s Paul Roos Gymnasium, according to The South African website.
| Rank | School | Players |
| 1 | Paul Roos Gymnasium | 54 |
| 2 | Grey College | 46 |
| 3 | Bishops | 42 |
| 4 | SACS | 32 |
| 5 | Paarl Gimnasium | 30 |
| T6 | Kimberley Boys’ High | 23 |
| T6 | Paarl Boys’ High | 23 |
| 8 | Rondebosch | 21 |
| T9 | Grey High School | 17 |
| T9 | Maritzburg College | 17 |
| 11 | Wynberg Boys High | 16 |
| 12 | Dale College | 13 |
| 13 | St Andrew’s (Grahamstown) | 12 |
| T14 | Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool | 11 |
| T14 | Hottentots-Holland | 11 |
Click here for the full list of schools
Below, a look at the Top 14 cities in South Africa in which future Springboks were born.
Any surprises?
| Rank | City | Players |
| 1 | Cape Town | 68 |
| 2 | Pretoria | 46 |
| 3 | Johannesburg | 42 |
| 4 | Paarl | 35 |
| T5 | Kimberley | 27 |
| T5 | Port Elizabeth | 27 |
| 7 | Durban | 26 |
| 8 | Bloemfontein | 25 |
| 9 | Stellenbosch | 16 |
| T10 | King William’s Town | 14 |
| T10 | Potchefstroom | 14 |
| 12 | Somerset West | 13 |
| 13 | Krugersdorp | 11 |
| 14 | Ceres | 10 |
Meanwhile, among those 933 Springboks, any guesses as to which SURNAME has been the most common?
The answer is no ‘Van der Merwe’ joke!
Top 12 most common Springbok surnames:
| Rank | Surname | Number |
| 1 | Van der Merwe | 12 |
| 2 | Du Plessis | 11 |
| T3 | Louw | 10 |
| T3 | Morkel | 10 |
| T5 | Botha | 9 |
| T5 | Du Preez | 9 |
| T5 | Du Toit | 9 |
| T8 | Smith | 8 |
| T8 | Van Zyl | 8 |
| T10 | De Villiers | 7 |
| T10 | Le Roux | 7 |
| T10 | Muller | 7 |
These are the 12 Van der Merwe’s to have represented the Springboks (in alphabetical order):
| Name | Springbok # |
| Akker van der Merwe | 902 |
| Alvi van der Merwe | 221 |
| Bertus van der Merwe | 323 |
| Carel van der Merwe | 703 |
| Fiks van der Merwe | 273 |
| Flip van der Merwe | 818 |
| Flippie van der Merwe | 526 |
| Franco van der Merwe | 846 |
| Heinke van der Merwe | 790 |
| Johann van der Merwe | 433 |
| Marcel van der Merwe | 858 |
| Stompie van der Merwe | 365 |
DOES YOUR SCHOOL FEATURE ON THE LIST?
