It has been described as one of the biggest shocks in sporting history.
But could South Africa's 32-34 Rugby World Cup loss to Japan be down to a plague of seagulls causing chaos at the Springboks' training pitch?
Team bosses are reportedly furious that the birds disrupted training at Eastbourne College in Sussex, where the squad had been training prior to the game on Saturday.
Eben Etzebeth is dejected after South Africa's shock defeat to Japan on Saturday. But could the loss be down to seagulls at the Springbok training base?
The school's head groundsman, Richard Maryan had spent months preparing the pitches for the South Africans' arrival, only for the sports ground to be invaded by seagulls (file photo)
Other supporters mocked the defeat, adding: 'They played like c*** too.'
The Boks, who are ranked fourth in the world, had been using the training ground at £32,000-a-year private school Eastbourne College prior to their match at the weekend.
The school's playing fields have previously been used by the Australian Wallabies and the New Zealand All Blacks during international tours to Britain.
The school's head groundsman, Richard Maryan had spent months preparing the pitches for the South Africans' arrival, cutting the grass to an exact height at least three times a week, only for the sports ground to be invaded by seagulls.
The victorious Japanese team received a heroes welcome when they arrived back at their training ground at Brighton College this morning
'At one time we had more than 100 gulls on the pitch after we had cut the grass and they were making an horrendous mess,' said Mr Maryan.
A Harris Hawk, named George, was then brought in to help scare away the gulls humanely, leaving World Cup organisers delighted with the state of the pitches after carrying out several inspections.
Jon Whitehead of Cleankill Environmental Services, which provided George, said: 'Hawks work really well with birds like pigeons and gulls which are naturally scared of them.
'The hawks rarely harm the pest birds – they just discourage them from landing. It's natural and green pest control at its best.'
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