SOUTH AFRICA CAPTAIN Siya Kolisi is confident the Springboks are moving in the right direction under Rassie Erasmus after a strong end to 2018.

Since replacing Allister Coetzee in March, Erasmus has overseen seven wins in 14 matches, including a series win over England and a Test victory against New Zealand.

South Africa finished second in the Rugby Championship behind the All Blacks but were buoyed by the 36-34 triumph in Wellington on September 15.

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They suffered a narrow defeat to England at the start of this month’s European tour but bounced back with wins over France and Scotland.

A 20-11 loss to Wales last weekend ended their year on a negative note but Kolisi is convinced there are plenty of positives heading into a World Cup year in 2019.

“I think we’re heading in the right direction,” Kolisi told ESPN.

“There were some ups and there some downs and I think we obviously wanted to do so much better than we did, but we’ve learned and improved a lot.

“I think the respect we wanted to gain back and the respect we wanted to get back in the Springboks jersey, I think we got a bit of that.”

South Africa’s year on the up means they are building momentum into a World Cup year. They will need that momentum from the first kick-off in Japan as they face reigning world champions New Zealand in their opening fixture and, depending on the pool outcomes, could face Ireland at the quarter-final stage.

Source: Heineken Rugby Weekly on The42/SoundCloud