Rugby World Cup 2019: Kolbe and Jantjies expected to be fit for Japan clash

Cheslin Kolbe and Herschel Jantjies are expected to be fit for South Africa’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final against Japan on Sunday.

Livewire wing Kolbe missed the 66-7 rout of Canada last Tuesday after taking a knock to his ankle in the victory over Italy, while scrum-half Jantjies has been nursing a strained hamstring.

Springboks director of rugby Rassie Erasmus on Monday revealed both players should feature at Tokyo Stadium.

“Internally our team has already been announced and they will both be in the team,” said Erasmus.

“We will have our first full training session in preparation for Japan tomorrow. We expect them to come through the training session so I would say they are 99 per cent ready.”

All focus on getting the win this Sunday.
#StrongerTogether pic.twitter.com/h0OKgnhGV9

— Springboks (@Springboks) October 14, 2019

Erasmus was full of praise for the host nation after the Brave Blossoms reached the last eight for the first time by beating Scotland on a weekend that saw the country hit by the devastating Typhoon Hagibis.

“The first thing is that it’s really tough not to like Japanese people,” he said.

“The way they have embraced all teams – not just South Africa – on and off the field, and adopting you as a city, putting on South African jerseys and making you feel at home is something special which I have never experienced in my life before.

“The way they have handled the typhoon – and I know there have been lots of losses in terms of lives and in different ways – and we send our condolences from South Africa and the Springboks to those people.

“But, again, it shows the strength of Japanese people to still host a game; play a game and beat a team like Scotland.

“However, while saying that, we are playing for our country and we want to try and win the World Cup and for the next week unfortunately Japan is the enemy for one week.

“We love the country, we love the people, but we have to try and beat them, and we have to play really well to beat them because they are ranked six or seven in the world and they deserve it.

“It’s going to be a really, really tough match for us this Sunday.”

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