The Springboks continue to prepare to defend their crown at next year’s World Cup in France with mixed success, thewhere once there was nothing.
While the SA Rugby Director of Rugby, Rassie Erasmus, faced more world rugby sanctions for his conduct on social media, he continued to stress that everything he was doing was with the World Cup in mind, including testing the waters against the officiating. South Africa’s end of year tour saw them lose to Ireland and France, ranked one and two in the world respectively, before wins over Italy and England. Again, the Springboks were trying to simulate world cup clashes and conditions. Erasmus emphasised the positives from the losses in particular, but did admit that they were trying the patience of their supporters.