Daddy of all Springboks: Deon Fourie to join list of world's oldest internationals

One month shy of his 40th birthday, versatile Stormers forward Deon Fourie is set to become the oldest player to play for the Springboks.

Named on the bench for the second Test against New Zealand in the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series, Fourie will be 39 years and 338 days old on Saturday, beating the record previously held by Victor Matfield if he is pressed into action in Cape Town.

Matfield made the last of his 127 appearances for South Africa in the semi-final of RWC 2015, aged 38 years and 172 days, a record that has stood the test of time since then, although Schalk Brits (38 years, 145 days) came close in 2019.

But Fourie, who is already the Springboks’ oldest debutant, having won his first cap in a 13-12 defeat to Wales in 2022, aged 35, is set to surpass that milestone.

Eleven of the 13 caps won by the hybrid hooker/flanker have been as a replacement, with his last appearance coming in the final of Rugby World Cup 2023, also against the All Blacks, when he replaced starting hooker Bongi Mbonambi in the early stages of the game.

But after three years in the international wilderness, partly due to long-term injury issues, Fourie rolled back the years to remind Rassie Erasmus of his value with a terrific performance for the Stormers in the build-up to the four-Test series with the All Blacks.

Erasmus has now recalled the veteran, who can also play No.8, as cover for Malcolm Marx at hooker.

While Fourie will enter Springbok history books, he won’t be the oldest-ever men’s Test rugby player from either a Rugby Championship or Six Nations team, a list that is dominated by fellow front-row players.

Oldest Test players by team (TRC/Six Nations), ranked by age in descending order:

10. Scotland (37y, 210d) – Ian McLauchlan vs New Zealand, 1979
‘Mighty Mouse’ was an old-school prop forward who punched well above his weight, as his nickname suggests. He was a key member of the triumphant Lions teams in the early 70s, being an ever-present in all eight Tests in 1971 and 1974. McLauchlan captained Scotland 19 times, a record until being overtaken by another formidable loose-head, David Sole.

9. France (37y, 329d) – Alfred Roques vs Scotland, 1963
Another prop, Roques was the cornerstone of the French pack that won three outright Five Nations titles in the late 50s and early 60s. His nickname ‘The Rock’ was hardly original but befitted his hard man reputation.

8. Ireland (38y, 93d) – Johnny Sexton vs New Zealand, 2023
Ireland’s 28-24 quarter-final defeat to the All Blacks at RWC 2023 made for a bitterly disappointing end to the fly-half’s 124-cap Test career. Sexton had overtaken John Hayes’ record as Ireland’s oldest internaitonal (37 years, 277 days) against Romania in the pool stages of the tournament.

7. Australia (38y 113d) – Greg Holmes vs Argentina, 2021
After five years in international exile, the prop beat Tony ‘Slaggy’ Miller’s longstanding record by a day when he came off the bench in the Gold Coast Test against Argentina in 2021. Holmes found himself back in favour due to an injury to Pone Fa’amausili, while Alan Ala’alatoa was absent for the birth of his first child. Holmes’ 28 caps were won over a 16-year Test career.

6. Wales (38y, 152d) – Tommy Vile vs Scotland, 1921
Seventeen years after he toured Australasia with the British and Irish Lions in 1904, Newport scrum-half Tommy Vile won his eighth and final cap for Wales against Scotland in Swansea. Unfortunately his final game in red was shrouded in controversy; a pitch invasion – while Vile prepared to take a penalty kick – paused play for 12 minutes. Scotland won the match 14-8 once order was restored.

5. Italy (38y, 184d) – Sergio Lanfranchi vs France, 1964
So good, the main rugby stadium in Parma is named after him. Lanfranchi started and finished his 15-year, 20-cap Test career at prop but also played flanker and lock in between, and was skilful enough to play in the backs at club level.

4. England (39y, 42d) – Fred Gilbert vs Ireland, 1923
The Conishman’s record has stood for over a century and will take some beating, with only Simon Shaw of the modern day players to have come close. A full-back, Gilbert only switched codes from football when he joined the Royal Navy and was called up for the first two Tests of the 1923 Grand Slam-winning campaign.

3. Argentina (39y, 169d) – Agustín Creevy vs Australia, 2024
Argentina’s first caps centurion replaced the legendary Hugo Porta as Los Pumas’ oldest-ever Test player when he came of the bench in a 20-19 defeat to Australia in Buenos Aires in August 2024. It brought the curtain down on a stellar career that saw him hold the national team’s record at the time for most caps (109), most Tests as captain (51) and most RWC appearances (22).

2. South Africa (39y, 338d) – Deon Fourie vs New Zealand, 2026*
Victor Matfield will lose the record he has held for over a decade if Deon Fourie comes off the bench in Cape Town on Saturday. World Cup winner Matfield had replaced Johan Ackermann as the Springboks’ oldest player during the 2014 Rugby Championship.

1. New Zealand (40y, 123d) – Ned Hughes vs South Africa, 1921
A tough, nuggety hooker, Hughes returned to play for the All Blacks in South Africa in 1921 after a remarkable 13-year gap, which included World War 1, where he served with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade, and a spell in rugby league.

*If he plays on Saturday