Rassie Erasmus pleased Springboks' 'mind-shift' during Rugby Championship preparation camp

Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus says the first week of the team’s conditioning camp in Johannesburg has laid a solid foundation for the forthcoming Rugby Championship, and momentum will be accelerated when the players reassemble on Sunday.

The team wrapped up the first block of training on Thursday and will spend the weekend with their families before reporting for duty again in a few days, where they will continue to build on their structures for the opening leg of the tournament.

The Boks play back-to-back Test matches against the Wallabies in Johannesburg on Saturday, August 16, and Cape Town on August 23.

“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.

The Boks warmed up for the Rugby Championship with matches against the Barbarians, Italy (twice), and Georgia.

“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,” the coach explained.

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 September 6 and 13) and Los Pumas in Durban and London (on September 27 and October 4).