Foundation laid, Boks will zone in on Wallabies next week — Rassie
The Springboks wrapped up their first week of training on Thursday ahead of this year's Rugby Championship and will next week turn their attention to their first Test in the competition, against the Wallabies.
The reigning world champions will be up against Australia in two Tests, in Joburg and Cape Town, on 16 and 23 August to get their Rugby Championship campaign under way.
The Boks have been in camp in Joburg this week, but will now have the weekend off before regrouping next week.
Bok boss Rassie Erasmus said it was vital to first get all the players on the same page and up to speed about the coaching team's requirements and expectations before turning their focus to the Wallabies. The Australia wrap up their three-Test series against the British and Irish Lions on Saturday.
'Key areas to work on'
'We had an intense week of conditioning to get the players ready for what will undoubtedly be a challenging Rugby Championship campaign against some of the top teams in the world, so we are pleased with the strides made and the mind-shift the players made for what will be a completely different contest against Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina,' said Erasmus on Thursday.
'We identified a few key areas of our game that we felt we needed to improve on after the Incoming Series, and we incorporated those areas into our training and conditioning blocks this week.
'The teams we will face in the next few months will ask different questions and pose different challenges, so it was important for the group to align on what to expect in the next few weeks, so this camp was vital in ensuring that we prepare adequately for what lies ahead.'
'Zone in on Australia'
The training camp featured a series of gym and field training sessions, as well as boardroom sessions, and Erasmus said they will delve deeper into the opposition from next week.
'We laid a good foundation this week, and next week we will zone more into what we expect from Australia and start developing plans to counter what we expect from them,' he said.
'They showed last week against the British and Irish Lions what they are capable of, so we need to be ready mentally and physically for what they will throw at us in South Africa.'
The matches against Australia will be followed by successive Tests against the All Blacks in Auckland and Wellington (on 6 and 13 September) and Los Pumas in Durban and London (on 27 September and 4 October).
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