World Cup has elevated the hosts but they are highly programmed and have struggled when tactics change
Japan have made this
World Cup with their effervescence, verve and slickness, but to beat
South Africa for the second successive tournament they will need to show a capacity to react to something they have not planned for.
The Springboks feel like a customer at a bar who cannot get served. The focus has been on the hosts since their stunning victory over
Scotland, a match that went ahead only after volunteers, some of whom had lost their houses when Typhoon Hagibis hit Japan’s capital last Saturday, worked selflessly from the early morning at the stadium in Yokohama. Little attention has been paid to the remarkable turnaround since Rassie Erasmus took charge of South Africa last year.