Springboks have faced toughest road to World Cup final

If South Africa go on to lift the Rugby World Cup trophy on Saturday in Paris, they will have done it the hard way by facing every other team in the top six of the current world rankings on their sometimes rocky journey to the title.

The Springboks hope to win a record fourth World Cup when they face New Zealand in the decider, a final hurdle among many they have had to traverse in the campaign to date.

South Africa lead the latest world rankings released after the tournament semi-finals were played this past weekend, followed by New Zealand in second place.

The Boks have already met Scotland (sixth in the rankings) and Ireland (third) in the pool stages, the latter inflicting their only defeat so far, before beating hosts France (fourth) and England (fifth) in the knockout rounds.

Those last two wins were by single point margins in tight contests that could have gone either way, but coach Jacques Nienaber's side found a path to victory and will need that same gritty character against the All Blacks this weekend.

It is arguably the hardest path any side has had to take to the title, and certainly the most difficult campaign yet for the three-time champion Boks.

They met a very good Australia team in the pool stages in their maiden 1995 triumph on home soil, with only a semi-final in torrential rain against France and a meeting with all-conquering New Zealand in the decider the other tough encounters.

They had a favourable draw in 2007 when they easily won all their matches in their pool before knockout games against Fiji and Argentina led to a final meeting with an England team that improved as the tournament went on.

They lost their pool opener to New Zealand in their last triumph four years ago but still easily qualified for