The Springboks are busy making plannetjies for a return to action this year after more than a year of inactivity.
Director of rugby Rassie Erasmus’s world champions last played in November 2019 when they beat England 32-12 in the World Cup final.
And with the British and Irish Lions expected to come to South Africa in July, the South Africa Rugby Union (Saru) yesterday announced that the Bokke are hard at work behind the scenes.
With the Rainbow Cup kicking off later this month, Saru’s statement reads: “The Springboks’ preparations for the forthcoming international season will move up a gear in the next fortnight as Rassie Erasmus, Jacques Nienaber (head coach) and the rest of the management host of a series alignment camps.
“This week, the Boks’ coaching brains trust will present their plans for the 2021 season to a small group of players from the northern region, consisting of players from the Lions and Bulls.
“Following the three days of alignment activities in Gauteng, the Springbok management will travel to Durban where they will repeat the exercise with a selected group of Sharks players on Thursday and Friday, before returning to Cape Town.
“The Stormers’ players will attend a similar camp activity next Monday, while the Bok coaching and management staff are due to visit Bloemfontein next Wednesday.”
Erasmus adds: “With a very busy and demanding international season looming, it is important we get everyone aligned as soon as possible.
“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.”
He adds: “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.”