Boks gearing up for England challenge with one eye on 2023 World Cup

The Springboks are preparing for their final end-of-year-tour match against England at Twickenham this weekend, with one eye firmly on next year’s World Cup in France.

In terms of preparation for the showpiece event, where the Boks will be aiming to defend their 2019 title, it has been the perfect year as they have faced all of the main contenders.

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The Boks have played current third in the world ranked New Zealand twice, second ranked France in Marseille and top ranked Ireland, and they will now face another contender in the fifth in the world England.

“It is an important game and an important step for us towards the World Cup. Playing against teams that are ranked in the top five in the world and will thus be contenders in the competition, as preparation before the world cup is the best practice that you can get,” said Bok assistant coach Deon Davids.

“We have thus been taking every opportunity to test what we want to do, but we must also take the good lessons from these games and try to be better next year.

“So this (weekend’s) Test is important, like any other that we have played. But it’s one of those Tests that you want to pass and get a good result.”

Final match

With this the Boks final match of the year, it is important for them to try pick up a win to take some momentum into 2023, while they will also be eager to build on their impressive win over Italy over the past weekend.

Following the England game the Boks will have a great idea of where they stand heading into the World Cup year and will know where they need t improve ahead of the tournament.

“Part of our journey this year was to put ourselves out there and try to get certain answers on different aspects of our preparation for the World Cup,” explained Davids.

“That includes squad depth, in-form players, experienced members of the squad, combinations and also in terms of our strategy, the way we play the game and the challenges we get from the opposition.

“So I think we have got a lot of answers in those aspects. Obviously we are not the finished product yet, but I think after this year we will have a good idea of where we stand in terms of our squad depth, the way we play, our performances at this level and things that we can prepare for next year.”

Davids continued: “That was part of the challenge this year and we are lucky at this stage, if you look at this week’s team selection, the players that are coming in are players that are part of a bigger group, they have experience and get another opportunity.

“We have some experienced players in the squad that we know can do it for us. But we are also realistic in the sense and understanding that teams get better, the game evolves and we will take these experiences from this year and try to build on them.”