While the Springboks still need to play against the Tier 2 team, Canada, after Italy, a defeat will make it just about impossible to qualify for the quarter-finals.

The two nations have faced each other 14 times in the past, with South Africa leading the head-to-head battle 13-1.

Italy’s only win was in 2016 when they stunned the Springboks with a 20-18 victory in Florence.

A win for Connor O’Shea’s Azzurri will assure them of a spot in the play-offs, even though they still need to face the All Blacks.

The Springboks have gone with their strongest possible team for the Test, while Italy welcomes their captain, Sergio Parisse back after being rested against Canada.

The Springbok captain, Siya Kolisi, says that his charges know what to do, and very little motivation is needed for the crunch game.

“Every game is a knockout game for us now, If we slip up we’re out of the competition so we’ve been incredibly focused.

“In a way, we’re fortunate that we get to play knockouts earlier than normal. That’s how we see this game. I know they have also prepared specially for this game. It’s one of those games you want to be playing in as a player.

“As a team, we have prepared as well as we could, we have trained well and we’re really confident in our plan.

“It was one of those games where they had two opportunities and they took them and we didn’t take ours. We created quite a lot but we couldn’t take them so we don’t need to change a lot.

“It wasn’t a great performance but we can’t smash ourselves over that now. We’ve got to be right for Italy. They’re a great side and they’ve beaten us in the past. Their pack is very strong and that’s why we’ve got another near whole pack on the bench.

“It’s quite clear what the game plan is and the players know what we need to do – it has been fully coached into us. I don’t need to say anything.

“We know as players that we’ve all been working to get to the World Cup and we want to get into the play-offs.

“Every game we play is a play-off so we’re really looking forward to it. So I won’t need to say much. I just need to make sure I pitch up and play well.”

Friday’s Test between the Springboks and Italy in Shizuoka kicks off at 11:45.

Springboks - 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements - 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Franco Mostert, 21 Francois Louw, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Frans Steyn.

Italy - 15 Matteo Minozzi, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Luca Morisi, 12  Jayden Hayward, 11 Michele Campagnaro, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Tito Tebaldi, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Jake Polledri, 6 Braam Steyn, 5 Dean Budd, 4 David Sisi, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Luca Bigi, 1 Andrea Lovotti.
Replacements - 16 Federico Zani, 17 Nicola Quaglio, 18 Marco Riccioni, 19 Alessandro Zanni, 20 Federico Ruzza, 21 Sebastian Negri, 22 Callum Braley, 23 Carlo Canna.

@MorganPiek OFM Sport