Boks brace for 2027 World Cup pool draw in Sydney

TWO years out from the next World Cup, the bookies have the Springboks as hot favourites to defend their title once more, but that will not mean coach Rassie Erasmus will be holding thumbs when the pool draw is made in Sydney on Wednesday (start 11am).

- MIKE GREENAWAY

DEFENDING champions South Africa await today's 2027 Rugby World Cup pool draw knowing they cannot be grouped with any of their fellow top-band nations.

(AFP)

The Springboks have shown the rugby world this year that they fear nobody, while in 2019 and 2023 they equally showed that, however tough their pool might be, they have the courage and gameplan to overcome in the end.

In 2019, they lost to New Zealand in a pool game and defied the odds to become the first country to lose a pool game and go on to win the Webb Ellis Cup. They did the same in 2023 when Ireland beat them in a pool game. The Boks shrugged off that potentially morale-breaking loss to defend their title.