Rassie addresses Boks' talk that he regards as 'stupid'

Rassie Erasmus is doing his best to dampen expectations as the Springboks prepare to launch their bid to retain the Rugby World Cup in France and insists it would be “stupid” to consider them favourites heading into the tournament which kicks off in September.

As the reigning Cup champions prepare for their opening Rugby Championship match against Australia at home on 8 July, Erasmus, SA Rugby's Director of Rugby, is even talking up the chances of the Wallabies under new coach Eddie Jones despite their poor record in South Africa. He said :” We're under no illusions (how competitive this World Cup is going to be) You have the Wallabies under Eddie and the All Blacks present. Ireland are ranked No 1 in the world, France are second.

"Even through to Scotland, who are No 5, it would be stupid to argue that we're carrying the favourite tag. We definitely don't.

"We're not even going to argue in that direction because there would be no sense doing that. Yes, the expectations are definitely higher. We feel it on our shoulders. The nice thing about this group is that we've been together for a really long time.

"We're very realistic and don't get dragged into what other people are saying. We know, realistically, that in 2019 we were not exactly favourites. If anything, we were underdogs.

"We're world champions and have to try and defend that title. We believe we have as good a chance as anyone to complete that objective. People definitely expect us to go to World Cup and get the job done. We're certainly going to try.”

The Springbok management are planning a split-squad system again for the Rugby Championship, although head coach Jacques Nienaber is adamant he is not operating an A- or B-team system.

"It will not be an 'A' and a 'B' side. It will be similar to what we did in 2019. If you look at the team that played against Australia then, who started that game, I think a lot of people at the time thought that it would be an A and a B side," he said.

"Beast Mtawarira started against Australia and he started in the World Cup final. Bongi Mbonambi started against Australia and he started in the World Cup final. Lood de Jager and Eben Etzebeth started, Pieter-Steph du Toit started. We'll probably do the same. It will be a side that we believe will be good enough to beat Australia here at Loftus."