The Boks and All Blacks will clash in Rugby Championship matches in Auckland and Wellington.
The Springboks’ 36-man squad and coaching team have arrived in Auckland New Zealand ahead of their two-Test Rugby Championship tour, with coach Rassie Erasmus emphasising the importance of managing the players properly over the coming days.
The Boks go into the first Test, and third of the Rugby Championship, against their arch-rivals, New Zealand, coming off back-to-back matches against Australia in South Africa. The Boks lost 38-22 in Joburg, but won 30-22 in Cape Town.
On top of that, they have moved into a completely new time zone, with New Zealand 10 hours ahead of South Africa.
The first Test of the Boks’ tour is next Saturday at Eden Park in Auckland and that’s followed by the second Test of the tour, at Sky Stadium in Wellington, on September 13.
‘Settle in as quickly as possible’
Though in good spirits the Boks have a tough few days ahead of them.
“We travelled well, and although it’s a long trip to New Zealand, we are excited to be here and we are looking forward to the challenge ahead,” said Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus.
“It’s always tough playing here, but the group is in good spirits, and we are fully aware of the magnitude of the task ahead.
“The time zone and conditions are obviously very different from back home, so it’s important that we acclimatise and settle in as quickly as possible to ensure that we are sharp at training and ready to be at our best by the time we face the All Blacks next weekend.”
Erasmus added that managing the players effectively in the next few days would be essential to get the best out of them on the field.
“We’ve worked out our training schedule this week in a way that would allow the players to recover from the two physical matches against Australia, while at the same time steadily get into the swing of things for the next two matches,” said Erasmus.
“We will have only two training sessions this week and then go full throttle into normal Test match mode from Monday.”
Both matches in New Zealand kick off at 9.05am (SA Time).
Following the two-match tour, the Boks will face Argentina in Durban on Saturday September 27, before wrapping up their campaign against the Pumas in London on October 4.
