Ex-Springbok coach Rudolf Straeuli left his job on Thursday

Silas Nkanunu, president of the South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu), quit just 24 hours after Springbok coach Rudolf Straeuli and SA Rugby managing director Rian Oberholzer also stood down.

Speaking at the annual meeting of the beleaguered union, Nkanunu cited a combination of the Boks' failure to either change their culture or improve under his leadership as the main reason for his decision.

"In the area of the Springbok team we have failed to achieve the transformation or the performance results which we set ourselves when I took over as president," he said.

"It is fair to suggest that leadership should accept responsibility for failure to achieve those goals. This happened during my watch."

Nkanunu had asked to address the meeting soon after it began and spoke for 30 minutes.

He had been scheduled to face a leadership challenge on Friday from his vice president, Brian van Rooyen.

South Africa had a poor World Cup, losing 29-9 to New Zealand in the last eight, and they were rocked by racism accusations in the build-up.

The hierarchy has also been criticised for allowing the players to go on a brutal training camp before the tournament.

During the team-building session, players were forced naked into a freezing lake to pump up rugby balls under water.