With two years to go until the next Rugby World Cup, bookmakers have already made their stance clear. The Springboks are overwhelming favorites to lift the trophy yet again. But that doesn’t mean head coach Rassie Erasmus will be sitting comfortably when the pool draw takes place in Sydney on Wednesday at 11 a.m.
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South Africa may be the team everyone fears, but Erasmus and his staff know better than anyone. That a World Cup campaign can be shaped or complicated before a single match is played. What the Springboks have shown the rugby world this year is that they fear no opponent.
They have taken on every major side with confidence, physicality, and a belief built on years of consistency. And history backs them up. In both the 2019 and 2023 tournaments, South Africa proved that the difficulty of their pool does not dictate their destiny.
In 2019, they lost their opening match to New Zealand, yet rallied and became the first team ever to lose a pool game and still go on to win the Webb Ellis Cup. Four years later, in 2023, they repeated the pattern after a narrow pool-stage defeat to Ireland. Once again, the Springboks absorbed the blow, reset mentally, and powered their way to a successful title defense.
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The Few Nations to Beat South Africa at the Rugby World Cup
Those losses to New Zealand and Ireland stand out because they are part of a very small list. Since first entering the World Cup in 1995, South Africa have only ever lost to five different nations at the tournament. Besides the All Blacks and Ireland, they also suffered a pool-stage loss to England during the 2003 World Cup in Australia.
The Springbok team is widely considered one of the weakest to represent the country on the global stage. Another unforgettable defeat came at the hands of Japan in what is now known as the Miracle of Brighton, one of the biggest upsets in rugby history.
And rounding out the list is Australia, a long-time World Cup nemesis for South Africa. The Wallabies beat the Boks in the 1999 semi-final with a now-legendary long-range drop goal from Stephen Larkham. And again in the 2011 quarter-final, when an ageing Springbok team couldn’t quite finish the job.
Ironically, Australia is also one of the biggest potential threats in Wednesday’s draw. The Wallabies finished the 2025 season ranked seventh in the world. They are outside the top band and could land in a pool headed by any of the top six teams. Those top-seeded teams, South Africa, New Zealand, England, Ireland, France, and Argentina, cannot be drawn against one another.
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Rugby World Cup Final: South Africa Could Face Australia
But will have to face one team from each lower band as the pools are filled. That means there is a very real chance the Springboks could end up sharing a group with Australia. Would that faze Erasmus or his players? Probably not.
Even though South Africa lost heavily to the Wallabies earlier this year in a Rugby Championship fixture in Johannesburg. The Boks have shown time and again that they tend to grow over the course of long tournaments. They know how to handle pressure, how to adjust tactically, and how to peak at the right time.
Still, the coaching staff will be mindful of every possible pool combination as they evaluate the best and worst scenarios that could come out of Wednesday’s ceremony. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the rugby world, Japan has made a major decision about its coaching future. Eddie Jones will remain in charge through the Rugby World Cup 2027.
After receiving full backing from the Japan Rugby Football Union following a detailed end-of-year review. JRFU chairman Kensuke Iwabuchi said the board examined the team’s performance. Thoroughly before unanimously agreeing to keep Jones and his current staff in place. Despite a mixed set of results, officials believe the national team has shown signs of real improvement.
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