Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus says his world champions are fully recovered and ready to give everything they have when the Rugby's Greatest Rivalry series against the All Blacks kicks off in Johannesburg next Saturday.
Erasmus and his squad completed two days of training on Saturday as they began aligning the entire group for the four-Test series against New Zealand.
The 26-man travelling squad who faced Argentina in Buenos Aires returned to South Africa in two groups this past Monday and Tuesday, spending most of the week recovering from last Saturday's hard-fought 17–10 victory over Los Pumas. The players returned to the training field on Friday and completed another session on Saturday before being given a day and a half off.
Johan Grobbelaar and utility forward Elrigh Louw, who have been released to the Vodacom Bulls for Saturday evening's clash with the All Blacks, will rejoin the national squad on Sunday.
The four-Test series opens at Ellis Park, before moving to Cape Town Stadium on August 29, FNB Stadium on September 5, and finally M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on September 12.
Erasmus said careful management of the players returning from Argentina had been essential.
"It was important to manage the players who travelled to Argentina well and afford them sufficient time to recover from the match and switch back into the domestic time zone, which is why we only started training as a full group late in the week," he said.
"But we are pleased that the players are well recovered and ready to give everything for the forthcoming Tests against the All Blacks.
"It will undoubtedly be a very challenging series, but we are looking forward to it as a collective."
The Springbok coach knows the intensity of the series will be unlike anything his players have experienced outside a World Cup.
"This series is almost like playing the knockout stages of a World Cup because we are facing one of the world's best week in and week out, and we all understand the magnitude of the series," Erasmus said.
"It's a new and exciting challenge, and we have been putting in a lot of work behind the scenes, especially the group of coaches and players who remained behind in South Africa in the last two weeks.
"We will fine-tune the areas of our game which we would like to improve next week as we get ready to take the field."