Erasmus Eyes World Cup Glory After Thrashing Canada

Head coach Rassie Erasmus feels South Africa have a “chance” of winning the World Cup following their crushing victory over Canada. The Springboks were heavy favourites heading into Tuesday’s clash with the North Americans and blew the opposition away with a seven-try first-half blitz.

Scrum-half Cobus Reinach scored the fastest hat-trick in Rugby World Cup history, touching down three times within the first 20 minutes while Damian de Allende, S’busiso Nkosi, Warrick Gelant and Frans Steyn also scored five-pointers before the break.

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Canada had Josh Larsen sent off for charging into a ruck after 36 minutes but they did score early in the second period through Matt Heaton. However, that was as good as it got for the Canucks as Schalk Brits, Damian Willemse and Frans Malherbe notched tries for the Boks to make it 10 in total in a dominant 66-7 victory.

South Africa lost to New Zealand in their opening match of the Japan showpiece and are likely to finish second in Pool B but Erasmus sees no reason why they should not go on to lift the trophy. “The big thing is we have to see who we are going to play now in the quarter-final and we will only know that by Sunday,” he told ITV. ”

We will give the guys two days off and then Friday we will be back on the horse again. “There is some stiff opposition but I think we have got a good chance, like everybody else. There are so many good teams in this tournament but, yes, I think we have got a chance.”