SPRINGBOK coach Rassie Erasmus has shifted his team into World Cup-style knockout mode as they prepare for a blockbuster clash against the All Blacks in the first Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Test at Ellis Park on Saturday.
The Springboks completed two days of training on Saturday after returning from Argentina earlier in the week, following their hard-fought 17-10 victory over Los Pumas.
Much of the week was dedicated to recovery and flush-out sessions, with Erasmus carefully managing the workload of the players who travelled to Argentina.
He also released hooker Johan Grobbelaar and utility forward Elrigh Louw to join the Bulls for their clash against the All Blacks on Saturday, a 50-19 defeat. The pair were expected to rejoin the national squad on Sunday.
The remainder of the squad were also given time with their families over the weekend, with Erasmus stressing the importance of striking the right balance between recovery and preparation ahead of the blockbuster Test.
“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,” said Erasmus.
“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 tournament, but we are looking forward to it as a collective. This series is almost like playing the knock-out stages of a Rugby 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 RGR series.
“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 finetune the areas of our game that we would like to improve next week as we get ready to take the field.”
The All Blacks, meanwhile, will head into the Test with confidence after putting the Bulls to the sword in a convincing 50-19 victory.
Head coach Dave Rennie was encouraged by his team’s performance, particularly the way they created opportunities and put the Bulls’ defence under pressure.
“I thought we had a lot of opportunities to play on top of Bulls and force defenders to make decisions, almost like we were training for the Springboks, who are coming a lot harder defensively,” said Rennie when asked about his team’s readiness for the Test.
The match also provided the All Blacks with valuable experience of playing at altitude, something Rennie believes will benefit them when they face the Springboks at Ellis Park.
“It’s good for us, having played a game at altitude. We worked really hard in those circumstances and will be better for it,” he said.
“We know the intensity level and quality we will come up against next week, three, four, five-fold. We played reasonably well on tour and we know we need to up the ante.”
The teams will play four back-to-back Tests, starting with Saturday’s encounter at Ellis Park, before moving to Cape Town for the second Test at the DHL Stadium (29 August), the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg (5 September), and concluding the series at the M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore (12 September).