South Africa’s rugby coach Rassie Erasmus expects to have a full squad from which to choose for the 2019 Rugby World Cup quarterfinal against hosts Japan on Sunday.
Winger Cheslin Kolbe & scrum-half Herschel Jantjies are expected to be fit for the match at Tokyo Stadium.
Jantjies suffered a minor hamstring strain against Canada while Kolbe was rested for that game amid fears of an ankle injury picked up against Italy.
“Internally our team has already been announced and they will both be in the team. We will have our first full training session in preparation for Japan tomorrow. We expect them to come through the training session so I would say they are 99 percent ready,” Erasmus said.
Erasmus noted that playing Brave Blossoms will not be an easy task given they have home advantage and many neutrals backing a nation which has delivered two shocks on the biggest stage. Japan is also still grappling with the devastating effects of Typhoon Hagibis which has resulted in the cancellation of three games so far.
“It shows the strength of Japanese people to still host a game; play a game and beat a team like Scotland. However, while saying that, we are playing four our country and we want to try and win the World Cup and for the next week, unfortunately, Japan is the enemy for one week,” Erasmus said.
The two sides have met twice before. In 2015, Japan registered a stunning 32-34 victory in their Pool B game in Brighton, England, at the Rugby World Cup. Meanwhile, in their final warm-up match just before the 2019 tournament, South Africa ran out 41-7 winners in Kumagaya, Japan.
