New coaches hit ground running
• Team put to work at camp that aims to expose the players to the demands of Springbok rugby
New members of the Springbok coaching group — Tony Brown, Jerry Flannery and Jaco Peyper — have hit the deck running at a two-day strategic coaches’ session as part of the national alignment camp in Cape Town.
The sessions, which were held on Monday and Tuesday, marked the first in-person Springbok coaches’ meeting after the team’s Rugby World Cup triumph in France in 2023, and since the appointment of Brown, Flannery and Peyper.
Brown and Flannery were brought in after Jacques Nienaber and Felix Jones vacated their positions, while former top ref Peyper was appointed the team’s national laws adviser.
The invited group of players joined the camp on Tuesday evening and will participate in a string of boardroom sessions until Thursday.
SA Rugby said in a media release that the focus of the camp was to expose the players to the demands of Springbok rugby, the key areas for the coaches in the national system, and what the coaches would be looking for from the players when they selected the squad for the international season.
“It was fantastic to have the coaches and Jaco in a room and to share ideas with an eye on the 2024 season,” said Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus.
“We’ve had several online meetings in the past few months, but the human element is always great, and this camp allowed everyone to get to know one another in a personal and professional manner.”
Erasmus declared himself pleased with the foundation work that had been done before interaction with the players.
“Tony, Jerry and Jaco leapt straight into the swing of things, and it’s fantastic to see how they bonded with the rest of the coaching team, who have been in the system for the past few years. So we are looking forward to this new chapter for Springbok rugby.
“As a coaching team we have a good idea of what we’d like to do this season and we are excited to present our key pillars to this group of players,” Erasmus said about the first of three alignment camps.
“This is a solid group of players, and these camps will be invaluable in putting the groundwork in place — not only for this season but to set the tone in terms of where we’d like to take our game.
“The sport is progressing at a rapid rate, and we must grow as a team to remain at the forefront of where rugby is moving. We made it clear last year that what we did in 2019 would not be enough to defend our title at the 2023 World Cup, and the same concept applies after last year’s international spectacle.”
The Springboks kick off their season on June 22 when they meet Wales at Twickenham. They then take on Ireland at Loftus Versfeld on July 6 and a week later in Durban. All the tickets for the Loftus Test have already been sold out.