A Springboks forward has earned glowing praise from former England prop David Flatman, who has revealed his \u2018total respect\u2019 for South Africa.<\/p>\n
The legendary Bath front-rower-cum-respected pundit doesn\u2019t agree with everything that Rassie Erasmus has done during his time with the Boks, but has applauded the innovation and creativity of the head coach.<\/p>\n
No reason why the Springboks can\u2019t win three in a row<\/p>\n
So much so that he won\u2019t write off South Africa<\/a> completing their Rugby World Cup<\/a> three-peat in Australia next year but does predict that England will be their biggest challengers for the title.<\/p>\n \u201cSouth Africa 2027 World Cup is going for a third in a row. Can you see it happening?\u201d Harlequins and England great Danny Care asked Flatman on the Hits Different show<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah,\u201d the ex-prop replied.<\/p>\n Care added: \u201cThere\u2019s no reason why not, is there? \u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u00a0actually think, and I know we\u2019re both English, but let\u2019s wait until the Six Nations comes and goes,\u201d Flatman continued.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I feel like England might be their biggest competition in this World Cup.<\/p>\n \u201cSouth Africa won a World Cup in 2019 with not just brute force, it was doing the job up front, magic on the wings, but I think they\u2019re really inventive and creative and you don\u2019t quite know what\u2019s coming next against South Africa unless it\u2019s scrum time when you know exactly what\u2019s coming and what you\u2019re going to do about it because they got loads of them.\u201d<\/p>\n Moving the conversation on, Care believes that South Africa are one of the few nations that still put a big focus on their 7s program with the shorter format of the game continuing to produce Springboks.<\/p>\n Ex-Springboks star\u2019s warning to the rest of the world with next South African generation \u2018the most talented I\u2019ve seen in a long time\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n \u2018Absolutely no need for change\u2019 \u2013 Ex-referee urges top unions to \u2018disoblige\u2019 World Rugby boss<\/a><\/p>\n A short Pieter-Steph du Toit<\/p>\n He pointed to Kwagga Smith<\/a>, but the likes of Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-Lee Arendse have also benefited from stints in the Blitzboks set-up.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople like Kwagga Smith was in the 7s for four or five years; they still a country that places a massive emphasis on 7s rugby and what it can do,\u201d Care said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s now starting in the 23 every single week. You put him in a different team, people say \u2018Ah, he is not big enough\u2019 but he is a dog.\u201d<\/p>\n Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n Flatman replied: \u201cHe is a dog of war mate, he\u2019s Pieter-Steph du Toit but a foot shorter, there\u2019s value in that. It\u2019s almost the attitude and the mentality around the Boks.<\/p>\n