World champ Boks’ first 2020 foes
Scotland, on our shores on July 4 and 11 next year, seem betting certainties as South Africa’s first post-World Cup opponents.
Although confirmation specifically from SA Rugby was awaited at the time of writing, all signs point heavily to the Scots, ranked ninth on the current World Rugby ladder, being the Springboks’ first hurdle – two home-based Tests on successive weekends – in their capacity of Webb Ellis Cup-holders and now top-ranked global outfit.
Scotland would be reasonably moderate first opponents in 2020, as they were eliminated (third in Pool A behind Japan and Ireland) ahead of the knockout phase of the Japan-hosted World Cup and ended fifth in the latest edition of the Six Nations competition, only ahead of routine strugglers Italy.
That may be no bad thing from a Bok perspective, given both the new burden of being world champions, and the fact that the national team’s reworked brains trust under director of rugby Rassie Erasmus may well wish to experiment with a few fresh faces given certain high-profile retirements – Tendai Mtawarira and Francois Louw quickly spring to mind – since the stirring events in Yokohama recently.
Read the full story on: News24.