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Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber was satisfied with the progress being made by the small group of players attending the opening week of their three-week conditioning camp in Bloemfontein and said they have been ticking the desired boxes.
Malcolm Marx, Kwagga Smith, Franco Mostert, Jesse Kriel, Frans Steyn, and Willie le Roux reported for duty on Sunday. Several players from France joined the training camp yesterday. Handre Pollard, Eben Etzebeth and Elton Jantjes were among those players who arrived yesterday.
They will be joined by a big contingent of South African players on Sunday following the conclusion of the PRO14 Rainbow Cup SA pool games. The full squad will assemble on Sunday, 27 June, once the European-based players conclude their club commitments.
Following a 20-month absence from international rugby following the team’s 2019 Rugby World Cup victory, Nienaber was excited to be back in the national team environment and said: “It is great to be back on the field, to see the players and to coach again. The last time I was on the pitch with the Springboks was the Wednesday before the Rugby World Cup final.”
Nienaber said the coaching staff have been capitalising on the time with this small group of players by zoning in on the detailed aspects of the game.
“As a national coach one doesn’t have much time to focus on the fundamentals, and that is something we are able to do with this small group of players,” he said.
“I was probably more nervous about this week than the others because we have to make sure that what we do at training is meaningful, so we have been doing a lot of skill-based work within the framework of our game plan and a little bit of conditioning as well.
“In the sessions, we’ve had so far we have ticked the boxes we wanted to, and I am very satisfied with the first steps to get to our ultimate goal.”