Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus insists his side are excited by the challenge of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series, with the Tests against the All Blacks now on the horizon.
The four-Test series between the historic rivals, who have each won two of the past four Rugby World Cups, gets underway next week (Saturday, August 22) at Ellis Park, with Dave Rennie’s tourists playing in their final franchise game against the Bulls later this afternoon (Saturday, August 15).
At the time of writing, the All Blacks boast an unbeaten record on South African soil this tour. They overcame a stern challenge against a spirited Stormers side in the tour opener, emerging 38-21 winners in Cape Town, before thrashing the Sharks 54-0 on Tuesday (August 11).
The Springboks, however, also come into this series in good spirits after a gritty 17-10 win over Argentina, which follows an unbeaten Nations Championship campaign in July.
‘It will undoubtedly be a very challenging tournament’
That standalone Test against Los Pumas saw head coach Erasmus send a rotated 26-man squad to South America, aimed at giving those who did not feature as much in the Nations Championship or players coming back from injury a chance to play in the Green and Gold jersey before the All Blacks series gets underway.
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That touring party has since returned to the Boks’ Johannesburg camp, alongside the group who remained at home and new inclusion Deon Fourie, but Erasmus feels they have all hit the ground running ahead of the upcoming Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Tests.
“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 the head coach.
“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, so 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.”
Elsewhere, the Springboks have also confirmed Bulls duo Johan Grobbelaar and Elrigh Louw, who have been released to play for their club against the tourists today, will return to the Test squad on Sunday (August 16) ahead of the Test series.
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