South Africa

In what was a first World Cup quarter-final for the Japanese, neither an entire nation seemingly now besotted by rugby, nor a raucous 50,000 crowd packed into Tokyo Stadium, could carry the hosts to victory on Sunday.

"Test match rugby is all about creating opportunities and capitalising, but unfortunately they kept us out and with their set-piece... they played well," Japan skipper Michael Leitch said.

"Credit to them."

Virat Kohli enforced the follow-on at the start of the penultimate day after the Proteas were bowled out for 275 in their first innings on Saturday in reply to 601-5 declared.

South Africa's shortcomings with the bat were exposed again on Sunday as they were dismissed for only 189, suffering their heaviest defeat to India in the longest format.

Umesh took 3-22 and Jadeja claimed 3-52, while Ravichandran Ashwin (2-45) also did damage as India sealed a record 11th consecutive series on home soil.

European Space Agency astronaut Parmitano has taken over command of the ISS this week but despite floating more than 250 miles above Japan, he will be able to watch his compatriots take on the Spingboks thanks to the tournament organisers.

In what will be the first Rugby World Cup match broadcast in space, World Rugby is providing a special feed for Parmitano so he can see Conor O’Shea’s men in action.

The Springboks are third in Pool B, behind leaders Italy and New Zealand after losing to the All Blacks in their first match of the tournament.

South Africa responded to their loss to the defending champions by thumping Namibia 57-3 and will be expected to get the better of an Azzurri side who have taken maximum points from their two matches.

After Sunday's opener in Dharamsala was washed out, the home team did well with the ball to restrict the Proteas to 149-5, Quinton de Kock top-scoring with 52.

Not for the first time in his career, Kohli timed the chase superbly, keeping the run-rate under control before accelerating late on to see his team cruise over the line in Mohali with six balls to spare.

The Boks have previously felt they have not always got the rub of the green from the officials in clashes with the world champions, especially in areas such as the breakdown and scrum.

With only two points separating the sides on aggregate in their last four matches, it suggests fine margins could decide the Pool B opener.

"Hopefully the match officials will respect the game because if you look at the way things are between us and New Zealand, I think we're more balanced now," Stick said.

Erasmus has hinted his final 31-man selection for the tournament in Japan, which will be announced on August 26, will be drawn from the players in camp this week with the remainder on stand-by in case of injury.

The players released from the group that defeated Argentina 24-18 in a one-off test in Pretoria on Saturday are prop Wilco Louw, hooker Scarra Ntubeni, loose forward Marco van Staden and utility back Dillyn Leyds.

They're up to fourth place, ahead of England by just three-hundredths of a point and they have Handre Pollard's injury-time conversion to thank for that.

The Springboks looked set to lose a topsy-turvy contest at Westpac Stadium in Wellington, before Herschel Jantjies' try gave the Boks the chance to level which they did. 

The result means the last four tests between the two nations have all been decided by two points or less.

The All Blacks remain atop the standings with Wales and Ireland also in the top four. There were no other changes inside the top 10. 

Ticket seller Ticketek told New Zealand Rugby to void the tickets to the 27 July match at Westpac Stadium.

NZ Rugby chief commercial officer Richard Thomas said cancelling the tickets was a matter of taking a stand against fraud.

"Unfortunately, it is highly likely that some of these tickets will have already been on-sold to unknowing fans on the secondary market and those fans may only discover their tickets are invalid when they present them at the gate at Westpac Stadium.

South Africa are through to the final four for the first time since 1995 after a strong final quarter got them home against a relatively competitive Uganda.

They join the Silver Ferns, Australia and hosts England as the four confirmed semifinalists.

South Africa v Uganda

Southern Steel star Lenize Potgieter continued her strong tournament by scoring a game-high 46 from 49 as South Africa beat Uganda 67-40 to advance through to the semifinals on Thursday (NZT).

Saving their best for last, South Africa won the final quarter 21-7.