By Michael McCann
At The Olympic Stadium

Schalk Brits told the Star that he believes South Africa can become the first ever team to lose a Pool match and win the Rugby World Cup.

The Springboks face the loser of tomorrow’s quarter-finals match Wales v Australia after beating USA 64-0 on Thursday to win Pool B, leaving the hooker confident.

He said: “There’s always milestones. At some stages nobody ran under 10 seconds, nobody did the mile in under 4 minutes — we want to be the first team that has lost a Pool game and win the tournament.

“That loss against Japan has made us even more motivated and focused for the coming games because if we lost again we were out.

“We went back to what makes us a very competitive side and I have never seen a squad of players more focused to win.”

Brits also put out a tongue-in-cheek appeal for England fans seeking a new team for the competition to follow the Boks, after Ireland captain Paul O’Connell said they would welcome new players.

“For me, South Africa is a great country, we play an almost similar style of rugby to England and we’ve got better looking players.

“I’m only joking.”