KOBE (Reuters) - South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus has ticked the boxes on a successful Pool B campaign at the Rugby World Cup which, despite an opening defeat to New Zealand, may provide them with a gentler route to the final in Yokohama on Nov. 2.
The Springboks must wait to discover their quarter-final opponents, but an expected second place in the pool could see them avoid the gritty Irish and take on Japan, where they will expect their enormous physicality to subdue the hosts, just as it did in a 41-7 warm-up win last month.