Ex-Springboks head coach Jacques Nienaber believes that Rassie Erasmus’ men have learnt to embrace the world champions tag, having previously sought after the underdog mentality.
When Erasmus and Nienaber returned to South Africa in 2018, they took over a team low on confidence and on the World Rugby rankings.
The pair masterminded the turnaround in fortunes, but they still entered the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan as underdogs, a tag that Springbok teams have thrived with over the years.
That success came four years earlier than Erasmus and Nienaber expected, as they initially targeted winning the 2023 World Cup when
