History of rugby union matches between Italy and South Africa

The Italy and South Africa rugby union teams first met in 1995. The Springboks 101-0 victory in Durban in 1999 was at the time their largest victory, ^[1] and remains Italy's heaviest defeat. Italy earned their first ever win over South Africa on 19 November 2016, 20-18, in Florence.

Rugby World Cup

The teams have met once in the Rugby World Cup, in the group stages of the 2019 Rugby World Cup, with South Africa winning 49-3 after Italy had a player sent off. ^[2]

Summary

Overall

Details [3]	Played	Won by Italy	Won by South Africa	Drawn	Italy points	South Africa points
In Italy	8	1	7	0	141	326
In South Africa	9	0	9	0	75	476
Neutral venue	1	0	1	0	3	49
Overall	18	1	17	0	219	851

Record

Note: Date shown in brackets indicates when the record was or last set.

Record	Italy	South Africa
Longest winning streak	1 (19 Nov 2016 – 25 Nov 2017)	12 (12 Nov 1995 – 19 Nov 2016)
Largest points for
Home	31 (8 Nov 1997)	101 (19 Jun 1999)
Away	14 (30 Jun 2001)	63 (19 Nov 2022)
Largest winning margin
Home	2 (19 Nov 2016)	101 (19 Jun 1999)
Away	—	46 (4 Oct 2019)
Largest aggregate score
101 (South Africa 101–0 Italy) (19 Jun 1999)

Results

No.	Date	Venue	Score	Winner	Competition
1	12 November 1995	Stadio Olimpico, Rome	21–40	South Africa
2	8 November 1997	Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, Bologna	31–62	South Africa	1997 South Africa rugby union tour of Europe
3	12 June 1999	Boet Erasmus Stadium, Port Elizabeth	74–3	South Africa	1999 Italy rugby union tour of South Africa
4	19 June 1999	Kings Park Stadium, Durban	101–0	South Africa
5	30 June 2001	Boet Erasmus Stadium, Port Elizabeth	60–14	South Africa	2001 Italy rugby union tour
6	17 November 2001	Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa	26–54	South Africa	2001 autumn internationals
7	21 June 2008	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town	26–0	South Africa	2008 mid-year test
8	21 November 2009	Stadio Friuli, Udine	10–32	South Africa	2009 end-of-year test
9	19 June 2010	Johann van Riebeeck Stadium, Witbank	29–13	South Africa	2010 Italy rugby union tour of South Africa
10	26 June 2010	Buffalo City Stadium, East London	55–11	South Africa
11	8 June 2013	Kings Park Stadium, Durban	44–10	South Africa	2013 South African quadrangular tournament
12	22 November 2014	Stadio Euganeo, Padua	6–22	South Africa	2014 end-of-year test
13	19 November 2016	Stadio Artemio Franchi, Florence	20–18	Italy	2016 end-of-year test
14	25 November 2017	Stadio Euganeo, Padua	6–35	South Africa	2017 end-of-year test
15	4 October 2019	Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa, Fukuroi, Japan	49–3	South Africa	2019 Rugby World Cup
16	19 November 2022	Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa, Italy	21–63	South Africa	2022 end-of-year test
17	5 July 2025	Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria, South Africa	42–24	South Africa	2025 mid-year test
18	12 July 2025	Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Gqeberha, South Africa	45–0	South Africa	2025 mid-year test
19	15 November 2025	Juventus Stadium, Turin, Italy			2025 end-of-year test

List of series

Played	Won by Italy	Won by South Africa	Drawn
3	0	3	0

Year	Italy	South Africa	Series winner
1999	0	2	South Africa
2010	0	2	South Africa
2025	0	2	South Africa

References

1. "Springboks smash records with Uruguay rout". www.abc.net.au. 12 June 2005. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
2. Ramsay, George (4 October 2019). "South Africa thrashes Italy as Azzurri see red for horror tip tackle". CNN. Retrieved 12 November 2025.
3. "pick and go - Rugby Union Test & Super Rugby results and statistics". www.lassen.co.nz. Retrieved 12 November 2025.