This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
South Africa stands alone at the top of the Rugby World Cup's honours list, the only nation to have won the tournament four times. New Zealand, the inaugural 1987 champion, has won three times since the tournament began; Australia has won twice; England has won once. That single extra title separating South Africa from New Zealand is the entire margin at the top of a competition that has been contested every four years since 1987, across a field that has grown from sixteen teams to twenty, with twenty four scheduled for 2027, meaning South Africa built its record advantage while competing in exactly the same expanding, increasingly difficult field as everyone chasing it.