They’re more known for enjoying being with their backs against the wall, but as the Springboks prepared to leave the island of Corsica for their French base of Toulon for the Rugby World Cup they declared themselves happy to wear a more hefty nametag: Defending Champions.
The Boks kick off their Rugby World Cup defence of the title they won in 2019 next Sunday against Scotland in their opening game of Pool B but coach Jacques Nienaber declared the side happy to be one of the favourites for the tournament.
Far from shunning the limelight, the Boks look refreshed and are in a mood to defend their title as they head for the toughest World Cup draw they have had.
"We always knew we would come into the World Cup as the defending champions and that brings with it attention. That's something we can't hide from or shrug off. It is what it is. We'll have to bear it, but we're comfortable with it because there's nothing we can do about that,” Nienaber declared.
"In all honesty, we've had to deal with the world champion tag for the past four years, so we're quite used to it."
SQUAD DEPTH
The Bok coach said the big difference between this squad and the one that won in 2019 was the amount of squad depth and that made them confident.
“When we started this journey in 2018, we knew there would be limited time to prepare for the 2019 World Cup,” said Nienaber.
“But we had four years to prepare for this tournament, although we lost one due to the Covid pandemic. In that time our focus was largely on building as much squad depth as possible. So, I think that’s the main difference between now and 2019.”
Nienaber said he was excited at the prospect of leading the team into the World Cup and couldn’t wait for the side to start their campaign.
“I have butterflies from excitement. We’ve been working toward this for four years, so we are very excited to get the competition started.”
SCOTLAND WILL BE A TRICKY CHALLENGE
The Boks are wary of Scotland, who will pose a tricky first challenge to the defending champs, with Nienaber pointing to a former Bok assistant’s role in their danger.
“They are a fit team and because of that, they can get stuck in and play for over 80 minutes. That’s certainly one of their strengths.
“We know Pieter de Villiers (Scotland’s scrum coach) well, and they also have strong set pieces, which allows them to play with the ball and with a lot of rhythm.”
Nienaber declared himself happy with the final touches that took place in the week-long training camp on the island and said the team were looking forward to the upcoming battles in France.
"We had a really good week. It was a top-up from a conditioning point of view. There will be small breaks during the World Cup, but this was a nice solid period to do work in that regard. And, obviously, there was preparation for Scotland."
The Boks arrive in Toulon on Sunday morning.
"If you look at the World Cup, we've spoken about how close this tournament is going to be and the high number of contenders there are," said Nienaber.
TIGHTLY CONTESTED
"In terms of that, it's going to be the most tightly contested World Cup in history. A few weeks ago, New Zealand had a comfortable result against us and [last week] things went very differently.
"What it shows is that if you are off by 1 per cent or 2 per cent, teams will put you away. That's going to be the key in this tournament. You'll have to ensure that you are 100 per cent ready consistently. If you're going to be off-colour on any game day, top teams will put you to the sword."
Nienaber professed his happiness with the week-long training camp held on the Mediterranean island, which specifically allowed for vital final conditioning of the 33-man group.
The Boks start their World Cup campaign against the Scots next week Sunday in Marseille.