Cape Town - The official date for the Springbok team’s arrival in England for the Rugby World Cup is set for September 12.
World Rugby on Tuesday confirmed the arrival dates for the 20 participating teams.
Pacific Nations Cup champions Fiji will be the first team to officially arrive in the host nation on September 9, nine days before they open the tournament against England at Twickenham (September 18).
With teams allowed to arrive officially up until September 16, the Boks opted to arrive exactly a week before they open their campaign against Japan in Brighton on September 19.
South Africa’s second Pool B game is on September 26 against Samoa in Birmingham, before Tests against Scotland in Newcastle on October 3 and the USA in London on October 7.
Should South Africa win their group, as is expected, they could likely face either England, Wales or Australia in the quarter-finals, with a possible semi-final against defending champions New Zealand looming.
Arrival dates of competing teams at the 2015 Rugby World Cup:
September 9 - Fiji
September 10 - Tonga
September 11 - Japan, New Zealand, Samoa
September 12 - Canada, South Africa
September 13 - USA, Argentina, Georgia, Uruguay
September 14 - Australia, England, France, Italy
September 15 - Ireland
September 16 - Romania, Scotland, Wales, Namibia
Springbok RWC squad:
Forwards
Willem Alberts, Schalk Brits, Schalk Burger, Lood de Jager, Bismarck du Plessis, Jannie du Plessis, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Eben Etzebeth, Siya Kolisi, Francois Louw, Frans Malherbe, Victor Matfield (vice-captain), Tendai Mtawarira, Trevor Nyakane, Coenie Oosthuizen, Adriaan Strauss, Duane Vermeulen
Backs
Jean de Villiers (captain), Damian de Allende, Fourie du Preez, Bryan Habana, Zane Kirchner, Jesse Kriel, Pat Lambie, Willie le Roux, Lwazi Mvovo, Rudy Paige, Ruan Pienaar, JP Pietersen, Handre Pollard, Morne Steyn