The Springboks wrapped up their Nations Championship training camp in Johannesburg on Thursday (June 25) and will go into Test mode from Monday (June 29) when the players join up again after getting the weekend off, reports The Citizen.

The Boks will face England at Ellis Park next Saturday (July 4) in the three Nations Championship Tests on home soil in July.

They will also face Wales on July 8 in Durban and Scotland on July 11 in Pretoria.

The Boks warmed up for the long international season with a match against the Barbarians last weekend. An SA A team was also in action against Zimbabwe.

Bok boss Rassie Erasmus subsequently named a 46-man training group for the Nations Championship, though he has said players has said players will come and go throughout the season, meaning the squad could change next week and the weeks thereafter.

Erasmus said he was satisfied that the necessary building blocks were in place ahead of next weekend’s test.

“We had a productive training week, which afforded us the opportunity to work on the lessons we took from our matches against the Barbarians and Zimbabwe, so it was certainly a valuable week for the team,” said Erasmus.

“England are a quality outfit and they will present a completely different challenge to the one we faced against the Barbarians, as they are a settled squad coming off a Six Nations campaign. However, we are pleased that we had the opportunity to give our players invaluable game time before the Nations Championship begins.

“The team is aligned on the expectations and standards going into the competition and we are pleased with the hard work they put in this week, so we are ready to get the international season into full swing next week.”

The match at Ellis Park next Saturday kicks off at 5.40pm.

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