As the 14 players present at the Springbok training camp in Cape Town in the last three weeks wrapped up their activities in Stellenbosch on Friday, Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber announced that he would host alignment sessions over two days with another eight players in Cape Town this weekend.
These camps are part of the Boks’ preparations for the Rugby World Cup in France in September and October, where they will attempt to defend their world champions title.
As the initial group returns to their franchises following an eight-week regeneration block, which included a four-week rest period and another four-week rugby and physical development block, another eight players – Joseph Dweba (hooker), Deon Fourie (utility forward), Marco van Staden (flanker), Evan Roos (No 8), Herschel Jantjies and Grant Williams (scrumhalves), Manie Libbok (flyhalf) and Sbu Nkosi (wing) – will be involved in two days of off-field sessions on Saturday and Sunday.
“We’ve planned to host alignment sessions – some in person such as at these two camps, and others online with the overseas-based players – to ensure that everyone is on the same page in terms of what is expected of them, where we are as a team and the areas of our game that we would like to improve,” said Nienaber.
“With the players we are actively tracking being scattered around the country and the world, it means we need to be innovative in the way we interact with them. But the most important factor is that we have regular communication with them as we work toward the Rugby World Cup.
“The players attending the sessions over the weekend have been participating in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship, so we are pleased to get this opportunity to work with them face-to-face.”
Commenting on the training camp hosted in Cape Town and Stellenbosch in the last three weeks, Nienaber said he was satisfied that they had achieved their objectives.
“We were fortunate to have this camp. It was crucial from a rest, rugby and development perspective for the players,” said the Springbok coach.
The focus during this period was to develop their physical capabilities as well as their fundamental skills, and the players will now return to their franchises for the closing stages of the Vodacom URC and the Heineken Champions Cup.”
Nienaber added: “It was excellent in the sense that we had on-field sessions and off-field alignment sessions, which allowed us to analyse where the game is at this point and what we have to work on, and we were pleased to see the collaboration between the coaches and players.
“We’ll now keep a close eye on how the players kick on from this and implement what they learned at franchise level.”
The Springboks will kick off the 2023 international season against Australia in Pretoria on Saturday, 8 July, in the opening round of the shortened Castle Lager Rugby Championship, which will be followed by clashes against New Zealand at the Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland a week later, and Argentina in Johannesburg on Saturday, 29 July.
In August, the Boks will travel to Buenos Aires to take on the Pumas before facing Wales and the All Blacks in Rugby World Cup warm-up matches in Cardiff and London in the final build-up to the World Cup.
South Africa will launch their Rugby World Cup title defence on Sunday, 10 September, against Scotland in Marseille, which will be followed by pool matches against Romania in Bordeaux (17 September), Ireland in Paris (23 September) and Tonga in Marseille (1 October).
The Rugby World Cup quarterfinals will be played on the weekend of 14/15 October, with the semifinals on 20/21 October and the final on Saturday, 28 October.
Nienaber will announce the Rugby World Cup squad on Tuesday, 8 August.