‘Unpredictable’ Scotland a growing hurdle for Springboks’ RWC pool stage :

The rise of Scotland throughout 2023 has made the fascinating Pool B at the Rugby World Cup even more interesting, particularly for defending champions the Springboks.

Pool B consists of several top sides headlined by world-number-one-ranked Ireland, the Springboks, Scotland, Tonga and Romania, making it arguably the toughest group in the competition as only two can advance.

Scotland can match the best

Without even considering how Tonga has been bolstered by the eligibility change laws, Ireland are obvious favourites to top the pool, likely leaving space for one more which would have been a simple pathway for the Boks until Scotland showed two weeks in a row against France that they dance with the best.

Now the South Africans are becoming increasingly wary of Gregor Townsend’s side and Eben Etzebeth sees their opener against Scotland as one of the “most important games”.

“It’s going to be a tough tournament because there are quite a few teams that have played incredible rugby in the last season or two,” Etzebeth said.

“Scotland are always a tough team to play against, as we saw when they beat France two weeks ago and narrowly lost to them on Saturday.

“The Scots are unpredictable and you can never write them off. This is going to be one of our most important games if we want to progress beyond the group stage.”

Opening RWC game is crucial

Meanwhile, director of rugby Rassie Erasmus insists the focus as a collective needs to be on Scotland and not beyond.

“All of us South Africans are putting our heads too far ahead,” Erasmus said.

“Common sense says you must plan well and play well in our second [against Romania] and last [against Tonga] pool games because there are players there that can play.

“But we face Scotland in the first match. If we beat Scotland, then we’ve got a little more breathing space in the rest of the pool.

“Everybody’s talking Ireland, Ireland, Ireland, but people are underestimating the importance of the Scotland game. Scotland will probably be saying, ‘Why are you guys not talking about us?’”

The Springboks are currently in Cardiff as they face Wales this weekend before tackling the All Blacks in their final Rugby World Cup warm-up.

Rugby World Cup warm-up fixtures:

Saturday, August 19 – Springboks vs Wales (Principality Stadium, Cardiff)
Friday, August 25 – Springboks vs New Zealand (Twickenham, London)

Rugby World Cup pool fixtures:

Sunday, September 10 – Springboks v Scotland (Stade Velodrome, Marseille)
Sunday, 17 September – Springboks v Romania (Stade de Bordeaux, Bordeaux)
Saturday, September 23 – Springboks v Ireland (Stade de France, Paris)
Sunday, October 1 – Springboks v Tonga (Stade Velodrome, Marseille)

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