Boks begin Lions prep with alignment camps
With less than ninety days to go until the British & Irish Lions arrive in South Africa the Springbok brains trust have set up alignment camps throughout the country and abroad to keep players up to speed ahead of the international season.
The Springboks haven't played a fixture since they beat England in the World Cup final at the end of 2019 and these alignment camps will help the coaching staff ramp up preparation for the exciting Lions tour.
It's going to be a busy international season with the Lions tour coming before the Rugby Championship and a traditional end of year tour. For Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus it's vital that everyone is on the same page.
“With a very busy and demanding international season looming, it is important we get everyone aligned as soon as possible,” said Erasmus.
“Although Jacques and his coaching staff have been in constant communication with the players throughout the past 15 months or so – keeping tabs on their performances, injury recovery and general wellbeing – we are now very excited and looking forward to meeting the players in a familiar team environment.”
With the Bulls and the Lions involved in the first camp which will be followed by two days in Durban with players from the Cell C Sharks before they head to Cape Town and then Bloemfontein next week.
It's a whirlwind period of preparation it's vital for Erasmus that they get their plans together clearly and quickly.
“The local players will meet up with the coaches, medical and conditioning staff and rest of the management over the next two weeks, while we have similar plans for our European and Japanese-based players, with Felix Jones hosting sessions in the UK and France and the Japanese based-players joining us on virtual meetings,” explained Erasmus.
Head coach Jacques Nienaber is still waiting to get his tenure as coach underway with a match but knows that everyone is excited given that they have confirmed fixtures.
“There’s a lot of excitement, from players to coaches and the management staff, to finally get together and kick-start our preparations for what promises to be a very busy and challenging international season,” said Nienaber.
“A lot of background planning has already been done, but we are now looking forward to shift our focus and preparation into a higher gear because time is of the essence. We have purposefully kept the groups small so we can drill in as much specifics as possible.
“The players will get a lot of logistics, technical and tactical detail to absorb so by the time we’ve completed this alignment roundup, they will all be up to speed of what exactly is required from them during their upcoming club and franchise games and the training camps leading up the Lions Test series."
