The Springboks will split their squad into two ahead of their Rugby Championship opener against Australia at Loftus Versfeld next week.
Coach Jacques Nienaber will name his side for the season opener on Tuesday, with the rest of the top guns then flying to New Zealand straightaway to acclimatise and prepare for battle against the All Blacks in Auckland on July 15.
Director of rugby Rassie Erasmus explains: “We’re not gonna take the full management team [with the first group of players] and we’re obviously not gonna take the full 41 players to New Zealand.
The Boks have wrapped up their Castle Lager Rugby Championship training camp in Pretoria and are ready to jump into Test mode ⚡️⚡️
— Springboks (@Springboks) June 29, 2023
Here’s what coach Jacques Nienaber said ▶️ https://t.co/cZvGEw6fgk
“The first group will fly Tuesday or Wednesday and that might not even be 15 players, it might be 12 or 13 - it depends on which guys can handle playing well here and over there.Players are built differently and take different loads in games.
“The team that flies next Sunday [after the match against the Wallabies] will only arrive there Tuesday and that will be the balance of the 41, depending on how it went against Australia.”
Of how they will split the management squad in the buildup to next week’s Test, Erasmus says: “There will be four of the management members who will stay behind.
“All the coaches [will stay for the match], three coaches will then fly over after the game on Saturday. The rest of the management team will fly on the Sunday.”
In 2019, when the Boks win the World Cup in Japan, they also split their squads.
An Eben Etzbeth-led team beat Australia 35-17 in the season-opener at Ellis Park, with Duane Vermeulen leading a much-changed team in their 16-all draw with the All Blacks in Wellington a week later.
dudley.carstens@inl.co.za