Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber said the team’s training camp on the island of Corsica was everything but a holiday and stressed that his charges had to be ready to play knock-out rugby from the outset at the Rugby World Cup in France.
Rugby World Cup 2023 kicks off on Friday, 8 September when France takes on the All Blacks, and the Springboks will kick off their campaign two days later against Scotland in Marseille on Sunday, 10 September, Nienaber and his team are leaving no stone unturned as the big day approaches.
The Boks arrived in Corsica on Saturday following their 35-7 victory against the All Blacks at Twickenham on Friday, and the players got down to business on Monday with their training programme.
“It’s not a holiday, it’s a proper training camp,” said Nienaber.
“There are a lot of things we need to work on because we are in a knock-out pool from game one, so there’s a lot we need to get right if we want to be competitive and defend the World Cup title.
“From a rugby perspective, we can work hard here and can prepare, and from a team perspective it’s nice for us to meet and mix with the people of Corsica.”
Zooming in on the pool stage of their campaign, Nienaber said: “In our pool, Scotland is No 5 in the world, South Africa No 2 and Ireland No 1, and one of us is not going to make it out of the pool. But it is what it is, so we have to be on form from the outset.
“And if we do get out of the pool, we’ll either face France or New Zealand in the quarter-final, so it’s going to be really tough.”
The Bok coach shot down suggestions that his team were the favourites to win the title: “I think France are the favourites, but obviously we are the World Champions, and we can’t deny that. That said, I believe this is going to be one of the most closely contested World Cups in history with a couple of teams that can win it on the day.”
The Springboks will wrap up their training camp in Corsica on Friday and make their way via a ten-and-a-half hour ferry journey to their Rugby World Cup training base in Toulon on Saturday.