| South Africa |
| 23 |
| Ireland |
| 15 |
| 30 May 1981 | ||||||
| Newlands, Cape Town | ||||||
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| Captain: Wynand Claassen | Referee: Françis Palmade (France) | |||||
| Coach: Nelie Smith | Attendance: 37000 | |||||
| Position | Player | Province | Age | Prev Tests | Scoring |
| Loose-head Prop | Richard Prentis | Tvl | 34 | 9 | |
| Hooker | Willie Kahts | N-Tvl | 34 | 6 | |
| Tight-head Prop | Martiens le Roux | OFS | 30 | 7 | |
| Lock | Kevin de Klerk | Tvl | 30 | 11 | |
| Lock | Louis Moolman | N-Tvl | 30 | 10 | |
| Flank | Rob Louw | WP | 26 | 9 | 1 try |
| Flank | Theuns Stofberg | N-Tvl | 25 | 12 | |
| Eighthman (C) | Wynand Claassen | Natal | 30 | 0 | |
| Scrumhalf | Divan Serfontein | WP | 26 | 7 | |
| Flyhalf | Naas Botha | N-Tvl | 23 | 9 | 1 conversion, 3 penalties |
| Left Wing | Gerrie Germishuys | Tvl | 31 | 15 | |
| Inside Centre | Danie Gerber | EP | 23 | 3 | 2 tries |
| Outside Centre | Errol Tobias | Boland | 31 | 0 | |
| Right Wing | Edrich Krantz | OFS | 26 | 1 | |
| Full Back | Gysie Pienaar | OFS | 26 | 8 | |
| Reserve | Ockie Oosthuizen | N-Tvl | 26 | 0 |
| Ireland: 2 tries, 2 conversions, 1 penalty |
 Team for the Newlands test: Back: Willie Kahts, Richard Prentis, Rob Louw, Martiens le Roux Middle: Divan Serfontein, Danie Gerber, Edrich Krantz, Naas Botha, Errol Tobias, Gysie Pienaar Front: Kevin de Klerk, Theuns Stofberg, col Butch Lochner (manager), Wynand Claassen (captain), Nelie Smith (coach), Gerrie Germishuys, Louis Moolman |