South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus says the fleet-footed wing Cheslin Kolbe will be fit to face England in Saturday’s World Cup final.
Kolbe sat out the semi-final with an ankle injury that has troubled him this tournament, and could return on the wing or at full-back this weekend.
Erasmus said: “We are lucky enough to have a full squad of 31 players available and they are ready to train today.”
He added that apart from the likely return of Kolbe, there would not be much change to the 23 that beat Wales on Sunday.
Eramus acknowledged that his side’s style could be rather dull but said that they would not be changing the way they played.
Erasmus said: “I guess you can expect very much the same from us on Saturday.”
Wales coach Warren Gatland was among those to suggest South Africa might want to expand their game if they are to win on Saturday.
But Erasmus said: “If one understands where we’ve been coming from — being number six, seven or eight in the world — we’ve got certain challenges, and one of them was always to redeem ourselves and become a power again in world rugby, and try to get to number one or two.
“To do that, you have to have some building blocks in place, and we’ve followed a certain route and played according to the stats, and in line with the way the game is being currently refereed. So, we certainly accept that there are some things in the game that we have to improve, and we take all that on the chin.
“But we feel that we have put ourselves in a position to maybe win the World Cup, and we are in the final.
‘Yes, we accept the criticism, but we are also happy that we are in the position to compete for a World Cup final, which is where we want to be.”
