Traditionally spooked, Nienaber's Boks of 2023 'bear' favourites tag: 'It is what it is'

Despite the widely held belief that South African teams perform better when they've been saddled up with an underdog tag, the Springbok vintage of 2023 won't be spooked by their relatively newfound status as one of the favourites for the World Cup.

For much of the build-up to the tournament in France, Jacques Nienaber's charges flew under the radar through a combination of a few underwhelming performances and a pronounced mix-and-match selection strategy that had a direct impact on continuity and those showings.

Yet, a productive two-week period in the UK, where Wales were beaten 52-16 in Cardiff and the All Blacks memorably dispatched 35-7, propelled the Boks back into top-of-mind territory when it comes to naming contenders.

"We always knew we would come into the World Cup as the defending champions and that brings with it attention," Nienaber said from Corsica on Friday, where the side will be departing from on Saturday to set up their base in Toulon for the tournament.

"That's something we can't hide from or shrug off. It is what it is. We'll have to bear it, but we're comfortable with because there's nothing we can do about that.

"In all honesty, we've had to deal with the world champion tag for the past four years, so we're quite used to it."

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However, laying an impressive marker doesn't mean that the Boks will suddenly be oblivious to the fact that the race to the Webb Ellis trophy remains thoroughly open.

In fact, if anything, South Africa's dramatic turnaround in fortunes against the All Blacks - after they'd been outplayed 20-35 in Auckland about two months ago - illustrates that impressive results can easily be rendered a