The Springboks will jet off to Japan on Friday for their mission to bring back the William Webb Ellis Trophy.
Leading them will be coach Rassie Erasmus and captain Siya Kolisi as South Africa will become the first team to arrive for the tournament.
Up against the hosts in their final warm-up match next week, Erasmus knows they can’t underestimate the Brave Blossoms, who stunned the Springboks in the 2015 World Cup.
But beating Japan is not the initial aim, it’s what happens in their first match of the tournament against world champions New Zealand on September 21 that counts.
FIRST UP: New Zeland will be the first task for the Springboks who will be in search of their third Rugby World Cup win. Photo: Brett Phibbs/AP.
Having looked at the All Blacks squad, Erasmus says: “As a coach, it’s tough to select a World Cup squad - especially if you’ve got players who’ve got niggling injuries and especially if you’ve got players that are over 30 in your squad.
WANTED: The Webb Ellis Cup. Photo: Kyodo News/AP.
“I’ve previously experienced that in a World Cup, a lot of players that are over 30, you really have to manage. Especially with the short turnaround times.
“There are quite a few that are over 30. And then you have a guy like [Brodie] Retallick in there - he is such an important player for them and I guess he is going to be fit somewhere in the tournament.
“We had issues like that with Siya [Kolisi] - if he didn’t play against Argentina and he didn’t get through that game, I would have worried to take him to the World Cup because where do you play him fit.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/StrongerTogether?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StrongerTogether #Springboks pic.twitter.com/AKvBjuBkBh
— Springboks (@Springboks)
“They have a really strong squad that they are taking over there. If Retallick gets through the games and gets match fit and those players that are over 30 don’t have those niggling injuries, they got an experienced squad and they’ll be the team to beat at the World Cup.”
dudley.carstens@inl.co.za