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The world champions face back-to-back Tests in New Zealand and also have four challenging matches in Europe towards the end of the year.
Rassie Erasmus has spoken about his plans for the Springboks this season. Picture: Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images
Coach Rassie Erasmus has detailed his plan for the Springboks’ coming international campaign, which includes back to back away Tests against the All Blacks and a tricky November tour of Europe.
The Springboks enjoyed a fantastic season last year, winning 11 of their 13 matches, while both their losses against Ireland and Argentina were by a solitary point, and they won the Rugby Championship and went unbeaten on their end-of-year-tour.
Their notable wins last year were against Ireland at Loftus, over the All Blacks at Ellis Park and the Cape Town Stadium, and solid away wins over Scotland and England.
This year they have an easier start to the season, with a non-Test against the Barbarians, followed by an incoming series against Italy and Georgia, while the start of the Rugby Championship is a golden opportunity for the Boks to start the competition well, as they host the Wallabies in two Tests, before they head down to New Zealand for arguably their biggest challenge of the year against the All Blacks in Auckland and Wellington.
They close out their defence of the Southern Hemisphere competition by hosting Argentina in South Africa, before playing the final match against them at Twickenham in England.
The Boks will then have a month break, before they get back together to battle it out on their end-of-year-tour, where they face tough away games against France and Ireland, while also facing Italy and Wales.
June and July Tests
Erasmus explained that they want to use the opening part of the season to improve their depth, while also welcoming a few senior players back who haven’t been in the mix.
“The Barbarians game is one we want to play around with. We want to pick a pretty steady team, and blood some guys there. Even though it’s not an (official) Test match, it is going to be one hell of a spectacle. It will definitely be played at Test match intensity,” said Erasmus.
“With the two Italy games everyone expects us to beat them. But they were really competitive in the first two rounds of the Six Nations, and then they ran a little bit low on player depth, because they don’t have a hell of a lot of players.
“They have a warm up Test match and then two against us, so they will be physical and up for it. The way they are coached they are really gutsy on defence, so we have to perform well against them and keep our belief intact.
“Then we have the last Test (of the incoming series) against Georgia, and we all know the Georgians are one of the most physical teams. If we take them lightly up front the whole game becomes a mess.”
Erasmus continued: “In these first four matches it really gives us a chance to, not mess around with the team, but to strategically have good plans in place to see how many players we can test out.
“Also some of the older guys, like Lood de Jager, haven’t played for us since before the previous World Cup. There are a couple of guys who haven’t been with us for a while.”
The Rugby Championship
Looking on to the Rugby Championship and end-of-year-tour, Erasmus said that the Boks were under no illusions of the tough challenge that awaits them.
“After that it’s the Rugby Championship which will be massive. Australia here and then we know how tough it will be in New Zealand. None of us here were born when we last beat them at Eden Park. So that’s going to be a big challenge,” said Erasmus.
“I think the build-up phase is nice (before the Rugby Championship). Then a little break before we go on one of our most daunting end-of-year-tours, so it is going to be a tough year and if our planning is not spot on it won’t be a great year.”
The Boks are currently in camp in Cape Town, preparing for their season, which gets under way with the match against the Barbarians on June 28. On Sunday Erasmus cut his training group to 45 players for the matches this June and July.
