South Africa name their most experienced XV ever for World Cup opener

There’s just two days to go before the Rugby World Cup begins in the UK this week, with Japan playing their first game on Saturday against tough opponents South Africa.

It will be the first ever Test between South Africa and Japan, who are led by Eddie Jones, who coached Australia to the 2003 final and assisted the Springboks to the 2007 title. That is why Meyer has to be convinced that key men such as De Villiers and Vermeulen have fully recovered before the knock-out stages are reached.

“We’ve studied Japan and it’s not going to be easy”.

“Meyer has hung his hat on this group of players but the downfall is it’s inevitable they won’t all be fit and available at the same time”.

I know that this year many of my friends will not be cheering the Springboks but will back New Zealand instead – a team fielding more black players.

While it’s not their strongest possible side, as is evident with Handre Pollard and JP Pietersen on the bench, the Boks should have more than enough fire power to quell any Japanese challenge.

“I do not think people realize exactly what Schalk went through during 2012 and 2013, first with his knee injury and then his illness”.

He is officially a 2007 winner although he tore his biceps during the opening game of the tournament and took no further part. If the rankings are accurate Japan should beat the USA and run Samoa, who they beat 33-14 last year, close. Since Japan was granted hosting rights for the 2019 Rugby World Cup in 2009 and New Zealand hosted the Rugby World Cup in 2011, Argentina has been added to “The Rugby Championship” in 2012, and from 2016, both Argentina and Japan join Super Rugby. The latter has had his injuries, but South Africa look more assured when he plays.

Starting with De Villiers is unlikely to affect the predicted outcome of Saturday’s encounter, but De Allende’s exclusion will not ease fears of a John Smit-Bismarck du Plessis scenario festering. I never play a game not to get injured either. The Springbok team, in its current form, remains a symbol of racism and we should protect our children by shunning this team.

Similar questions surround the integration of Fourie du Preez at scrum-half, who hasn’t played since February. “We want to change the future not get stuck in the past”, he said.

“Don’t read too much into it because we’ll make a final decision in the quarterfinals”.

Another player making a return from injury is Fourie du Preez (pictured below).