Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber expressed his excitement on Sunday as the national team kicked off their preparations for the season with their first alignment in Durban, and said the camps were vital as they look ahead to a challenging international season.
The Springboks will face Wales in three tests in the Castle Lager Incoming Series on consecutive Saturdays from 2 to 16 July.
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This will be followed by the Castle Lager Rugby Championship in August and September, which features two home tests against the All Blacks and Argentina. Thereafter, they’ll play three away tests – two against Australia and one against Argentina.
Commenting on the three-day camp in Durban, Nienaber said it allowed them to amend what didn’t go well last season.
“It’s nice to have a good base to build on, as it allowed us to look at what worked and what didn’t and have a look at what we can continue to build on,” said Nienaber.
“Before last season, the previous game we could look at was the Rugby World Cup final.
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“If one wants a disaster as a team, you must fail to improvise and improve. The big challenge for us will be to remain creative. But at the same time, some things are working for us.
“If you look at the results, we had a fairly average season last year, but given the conditions that we operated in with the bio-safe environments, the players performed well to win the Castle Lager Lions Series and beat New Zealand after 16 weeks away from their families.”
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