Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber has downplayed the belief that England are “underdogs” ahead of their Rugby World Cup semi-final clash on Saturday.

One of the two teams will have to go through what they did four years ago, and the Boks are not taking anything for granted, even though many experts, including English ones, have Nienaber’s team as the clear favourite.

“England went into the previous Rugby World Cup semi-final as the underdog against New Zealand and we have to stay in the moment and stay in the reality,” said Nienaber.

“The reality is that we’re facing England – and a good England side – and we don’t look at history [of results or form]. I don’t know where we were ranked in 2019 [before going on to win it] but any team can beat any team on the day in this game. If we lose this game, we are out so everything is focused on this match.”

Even though Steve Borthwick had a rough start in 2023 (he was hired at the end of 2022), Nienaber saw that the semi-finalists were getting better over time.

“They’re a completely different coaching team to the last time we played against them, and Steve has embedded a game plan or game model that was different to the previous one under Eddie [Jones, who was fired after England lost to the Boks at Twickenham in November],” said Nienaber.

“I think like everything it takes some time to get used to it and get comfortable with it, and I think the more time they spent with it the more comfortable they have got with it.

“From their performances and build up during this competition you can see they are improving every single game.”

Nienaber also identified the playing style that the Boks would face: “I think they are comfortable not playing with the ball. I think they are the team that kick the most in the tournament; they like to strangle you; kick the ball in your half and apply pressure and wait for you to make mistakes.

“From a tactical point of view, we know what’s coming and we’ll just have to make sure that we deal with that.”

Photo by Steve Haag Sports