Africa-Press – South-Africa. Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber has shed more light on the reasons for running the current alignment camp with top players.
Fourteen frontline Springboks assembled in Cape Town on Sunday for a three-week “physical and rugby development” camp as the world champions step up preparations for the defence of their title in France later this year.
The camp, which runs until 10 March, is for players of national interest and those who have been on a break from the United Rugby Championship (URC).
The camp will involve a series of off-field alignment sessions as well as on-field training sessions to prepare the players for the remainder of the season.
Nienaber, along with Head of Athletic Performance Andy Edwards, addressed reporters at the Cullinan Hotel in Cape Town on Wednesday.
The Bok coach said the majority of the players had played almost non-stop since they beat the British & Irish Lions 2-1 in a series in July and August 2021.
“The biggest reason for this camp is that a lot of these players here at this camp haven’t had a break from rugby probably since before the British & Irish Lions series,” Nienaber said.
“The majority … not all of them as some of them have had a development block after the URC … are guys who fit that mould.”
Nienaber confirmed there will be regular camps throughout the season.
“For future camps, we’ll sometimes have alignment camps on a Sunday with players from Japan. The alignment camps happen regularly. Every camp is there for a specific reason, we’ll invite a player for a specific reason to that camp.”
Nienaber, though, stressed that they have a much larger group of players of national interest.
“These 14 players being here doesn’t mean that we’re not looking at other players. The squad that we’re looking at, or the players that we’re looking at, are probably in and around 60, I would say, and we track them regularly.
“The biggest reason why these players are in this camp is because of the lack of [an off-season] and trying to manage the northern hemisphere club competition and a southern hemisphere international competition.”
Edwards, a former Saracens strength and conditioning coach, joined the Boks in August 2020 when he replaced Aled Walters.
“The Bok job is pretty unique in terms of how spread out we are. We’re from all over the globe. For us it’s really to hone in on how we can approach this year sensibly with regards to player management.
“We can’t do certain things with the players overseas, that’s obvious. The way those seasons are structured are the way they are. We can’t have an influence, but I think when this shift happened with the South African franchises going into the northern hemisphere structure, we had to start looking at it a little bit differently.
“And like Jacques said, these guys have been on a long stretch now. If you go back last season, they finished their season … into [the Bok] camp, into the TRC (The Rugby Championship) … it does become pretty relentless,” Edwards said.
Edwards said the Bok job has come with challenges, especially after South Africa’s domestic franchises joined the northern hemisphere’s club competitions.
“There are lots and lots of positives in going north and playing in two different competitions – URC and EPCR (European Professional Club Rugby) – but it creates a problem in terms of rest windows followed by the development windows.
“And I think that’s key to why we sit here today … that rest and development that players would normally get off the back of a normal northern hemisphere cycle that happens in July and August … our guys don’t get that because they’re competing in the TRC.
“So, essentially what we’ve done is taken that block and moved it to here (the current camp) and trying to not interrupt too much rugby that the franchises are playing. Obviously, there’s no EPRC games as it falls in line with the Six Nations windows.
“As a backdrop, it’s a really interesting time and period that we’ve got to. I’m really glad that we’ve got to this point. The franchises themselves are buying in, as well as key stakeholders like MyPlayers. I think it’s an exciting thing to start this physical rugby and development camp going into a World Cup year.”
The Springboks will play two Tests at home against Australia (Loftus Versfeld, 8 July) and Argentina (Ellis Park, 29 July) interspersed with away games against New Zealand (Auckland, 15 July) and Argentina (Buenos Aires, 5 August).
Their World Cup preparation will be wrapped up with games against Wales in Cardiff (19 August) and New Zealand in London (25 August) before heading south to France for their World Cup defence.
The players will return to their franchises after the three-week camp for the completion of URC and Champions Cup preparations.
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