WATCH: Not only the world champions but also the most talked about

Not only have the Springboks retained the Rugby World Cup, but the national side were also the most talked about team on social media.

According to data collected by monitoring and analysis firm Olytico, the Springboks were discussed the most in the nearly-two-month-long tournament, generating more than 1.2 million mentions throughout the tournament.

France captain Antoine Dupont was the most talked about player on social media throughout most of the tournament, but was overtaken by Springbok captain Siya Kolisi and Handrè Pollard a day before the final.

Cheslin Kolbe, Faf de Klerk, Makazole Mapimpi, Manie Libbok, Eben Etzebeth, and Bongi Mbonambi also made the top 10. Ireland’s Johnny Sexton and Dupont were the only two non-Boks on the list.

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TikTok content around the World Cup generated over 3.6 billion video views. The most engaged post was French football star Kylian Mbappé cheering on his country as they took on New Zealand.

More than 1 million social media posts were shared about the tournament over the final weekend alone.

This post on X (formerly Twitter) by the Rugby World Cup account drew the highest engagement with nearly 9 million views, over 100 000 likes, over 38 000 retweets, and thousands of comments.

Reddit also drew around half a million comments throughout the tournament, with the #RWCFinal proving the most popular.

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The data drew awe from many on social media.

X user @El123V said: “One thing I noticed on TikTok was how many young Springbok supporters there are posting about the Rugby World Cup. That’s incredible. Of course, South Africans and the Springboks dominate social media. Don’t you know South Africans own X. And the Springboks have over 65 million fans.”

@Azikara said the findings “demonstrates the SA public’s passion for the game”.