Springboks kick-off Lions preparations with three days of 'alignment' activities in Gauteng

Springboks preparations for the forthcoming international season will move up a gear in the next fortnight as director of rugby Rassie Erasmus, head coach Jacques Nienaber and the rest of the management host of a series alignment camps ahead of the July Lions tour

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 the Bulls.

Following the three days of alignment activities in Gauteng, the Springboks 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 Boks coaching and management staff are due to visit Bloemfontein next Wednesday. A number of player orientation camps are spread over the next few weeks, including a couple of assemblies for the Springboks players based abroad in Britain, Ireland, France and Japan.

Erasmus described these alignment exercises as the next phase of the Springboks’ strategic planning and preparation as the squad prepares for a return to Test rugby versus the Lions. “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.” Erasmus explained that with less than 90 days remaining before the arrival of the touring Lions, they will have to make every day count.

“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.

The Springboks have not played any Test rugby since winning the World Cup in Japan at the end of the 2019 season due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Nienaber, who took over as head coach in 2020, added: “There is 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.

“A lot of background planning has already been done, but we are now looking forward to shifting our focus and preparation to a higher because time is of the essence. We have purposefully kept the groups small so we can drill into as many 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 the 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."