Lood towers over the Boks

Cape Town - Lood de Jager goes into the Rugby World Cup as South Africa's tallest player. 

The 22-year-old will start Saturday's tournament opener against Japan in Brighton alongside Victor Matfield. 

An article published by the Telegraph revealed that De Jager is the tallest of the 31 Springboks at 6 ft 9 inches, but he is not the tallest player at the tournament.

That honour belongs to Ireland's Devin Toner at 6 ft 10 inches. 

Japan, meanwhile, are the shortest side at the tournament with an average height of 5 ft 11 inches. 

Saturday's match between the Boks and Japan kicks off at 17:45. 

Teams

South Africa:

15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Bryan Habana, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Jean de Villiers (captain), 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Pat Lambie, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Schalk Burger, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Lood de Jager, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira

Substitutes: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Coenie Oosthuizen, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Siya Kolisi, 21 Fourie du Preez, 22 Handre Pollard, 23 JP Pietersen

Japan:

15 Ayumu Goromaru, 14 Akihito Yamada, 13 Male Sau, 12 Craig Wing, 11 Kotaro Matsushima, 10 Kosei Ono, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Hendrik Tui, 7 Michael Broadhurst, 6 Michael Leitch, 5 Hitoshi Ono, 4 Luke Thompson, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 2 Shota Horie, 1 Masataka Mikami.

Substitutes: 16 Takeshi Kazu, 17 Keita Inagaki, 18 Hiroshi Yamashita, 19 Shinya Makabe, 20. Amanaki Mafi, 21 Atsushi Hiwasa, 22 Harumichi Tatekawa, 23 Karne Hesketh