SA Rugby’s Director of Rugby, Rassie Erasmus says that both Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber and himself have crossed paths with many in the ranks of the Scotland national rugby team over the years.

The Springboks play Scotland in their opening match of the 2023 Rugby World Cup in Marseille, France next Sunday.

Erasmus believes that Scotland have been quietly building a very capable squad, which has some South African influence as well.

He says it’s imperative that the Boks are switched on from the start.

“I don’t think a lot of people know that myself and Jacques, when we coached at Munster, we coached against Gregor at Glasgow four games in one season. there is a quite close tie and he’s a really a class coach with always good plans. We know he is a coach that definitely supports players with ball in hand and as most people say, play what you see, it is always a threat, especially with the Flyhald Finn that they have and then there is close connections like their defece coach,” says Erasmus.