Springbok strength in depth boosts hopes of retaining Rugby World Cup

Strength in depth among forwards and backs has South Africans believing that captain Siya Kolisi and his Springboks can successfully defend in France the Rugby World Cup they won four years ago.

Winning back-to-back titles at the global showpiece has proven difficult with only the Richie McCaw-skippered New Zealand achieving the feat, in 2011 and 2015.

But despite facing a much more difficult path in France than in Japan four years ago, the title-holders deserve to be among the favourites, along with France, Ireland and New Zealand.

In a 35-7 mauling of New Zealand in their final warm-up match, the Springboks turned a late withdrawal from the match-day 23 to their advantage and demonstrated the depth of their talent pool.

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Opting not to risk reserve back Willie le Roux because of a rib injury, South Africa took their so-called 'bomb squad' ploy one step further by choosing a 7-1 forwards/backs split on the bench.

It worked a treat with the world champions able to replace all bar one of their forwards after half-time without diminishing the strength of the team.

After scoring 14 points in the opening half with a line-up probably close to that which will face Scotland in their Pool B opener on 10 September, they added 21 more following the break.

Teams usually choose five forward and three back replacements, but at the 2019 World Cup, the Springboks picked six forwards and just two backs.

With one Springbok back a specialist scrumhalf, the other had to be extremely versatile and recently retired Frans Steyn was able to cover the fullback, centre and flyhalf positions.

There is a natural successor to Steyn in Damian Willemse, who started