The Springboks are enjoying a couple of days away from the game before they start preparing for a potential quarter-final at the Rugby World Cup in France.

The Springboks will only know on Saturday night if they are through to the quarter-finals but as matters stand that it is totally out of their hands now.

The pressure will be on the world’s top-ranked team, Ireland, who face Scotland on Saturday in Paris.

For the Irish to advance, they just need to be the Scots, but that is easier said than done. Should the Scots win by eight points or more and deny the Irish a bonus point, it will be the team from the Emerald Isles boarding a flight back to Dublin.

Lukhanyo Am - RWC

For the Springboks, the hard work has already been done, and while their 15-8 defeat to Ireland has put a bit of pressure on them, the Director of Rugby, Rassie Erasmus, said they aren’t the ones that should be too worried.

“With full humbleness, and there is no arrogance saying this, but I'd rather sit here than be Ireland knowing that we've been number one in the world all the time and Scotland basically just have to beat them by eight points and they are out of the tournament.

“The score could be 22-12 or 22-13 and Ireland are out of the competition if they don't get a bonus point. Of the three teams we are probably the most comfortable sitting here knowing we have got a two week rest. Look, maybe we have got six months rest if the cards don't fall our way.

“We have got two weeks off where we can analyse all three teams that we can possibly play. I always thought the Ireland-Scotland game was going to be nervy, just like the France-Italy game will be nervy. I know everybody writes off Italy and though Italy are not used to playing against southern hemisphere teams they are used to playing against northern hemisphere teams. There are going to be some interesting permutations still in the rest of this World Cup.”

Meanwhile, the Irish camp is fully fit ahead of the Pool B game and Andy Farrell has 33 players to select his team from.

What will certainly be playing in the back of their minds is that they have never advanced past the quarter-finals, but they remain confident.

The Irish are on a 16-match unbeaten run while in their last ten Tests against Scotland they won on nine occasions. The Scots last victory over Ireland was a 27-22 win back in 2017.

James Lowe - RWC

The Irish assistant coach, Simon Easterby, did however warn that the Scots can hurt them if they are not at their best.

“It's not hard to focus on what's coming up. Scotland are a brilliant team, they have the ability to play lots of different ways.

“They can mix it up front with their forward pack, strong maul, scrum as we saw against South Africa.

“But they can also play an expansive game with some exciting backs that can really hurt you if you're not on it. We knew that this final game in the pool would be pivotal.”

Should the Irish win and go through to the quarter-finals, they could face the All Blacks, and this will be a daunting task and they seek to reach the semi-finals for the first time.

Saturday night big game between Ireland and Scotland at the iconic Stade de France kicks off at 21:00.