World Cup showdown

All eyes will be on events taking place at the Yokohama International Stadium in Japan on Sunday when the Springboks lock horns with Wales in a Rugby World Cup semifinal.

It will be northern hemisphere versus southern hemisphere — Rugby Championship champion versus Six Nations champion — with the winner being a step closer to being world champions.

While the Welsh have had the better of the Springboks in recent years — winning all four of their last games — the South Africans are banking on the neutral venue being a deciding factor.

The encounter against Wales gives the Springboks a shot at redemption. It is payback time. But the Springboks will have to bring their A-game.

While some commentators have argued that the Springboks had a relatively easy passage through the last four games with the defending champions, New Zealand beating them in their opening match — Rassie Erasmus’s charges will be eager to book their place in the final against the All Blacks or England.

However, the Boks will have to have as few errors as possible, unlike when they knocked out hosts Japan last week where they made one too many schoolboy errors — or else a third-ranked team in the world will knock them out.

Erasmus and his coaching team must be commended for getting the team to focus on the task at hand despite all the drama following the alleged racial incidents involving lock Eben Etzebeth and the “wolf pack ”— which divided the country on racial lines.

These could have negatively affected the team but Erasmus and his team managed to mentally prepare the players in all the games they have played so far.

Rugby-mad South Africans have also rallied behind their team, giving them the much-needed 16th man.

While the majority of the 58.7 million South Africans have been watching the Boks on TV, those in Japan have gone to the stadium and passionately supported the team.

And with Japan knocked out of the World Cup, their fans are expected to fully back SA — a move that will further motivate the Springboks to fight for the green and gold and leave blood, sweat and pieces of their skin on the field.

No matter the outcome on Sunday, the Despatch-born Erasmus has done wonders with the team considering how they had become the laughing stock of the rugby world before he took over.

He has instilled a sense of winning and now the Springboks can beat any team on any given day.

Bring it home boys. Go bokke!

The South Africans are banking on the neutral venue being a deciding factor