Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus was content with the foundation laid in the Boks’ first week of training as his charges wrapped up their on-field preparations with their final training session in Johannesburg.

The players will return home to spend time with their families over the weekend and reassemble in Johannesburg on Sunday night to continue their preparations for the clashes between the Springboks and the Barbarians, and the SA ‘A’ team against Zimbabwe at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha on Saturday, 20 June.

The squad will train in Johannesburg until Wednesday, and travel to Gqeberha later that day, before splitting into two squads for their respective captains’ runs next week Friday.

“It was great to be back in camp this week and for the coaches to work with the players first-hand on and off the field,” said Erasmus.

“It was also good to see the enthusiasm and willingness of the players to learn from the coaches, and for both the experienced and young players to get back into the swing of things with the season around the corner.”

Erasmus added: “Kevin Foote (Junior Springbok coach) and Dave Wessels (SA Rugby’s High-Performance Department GM) have done a fine job in developing the young players and we are grateful for their co-operation and constant communication for us to work together to have these players in camp.

“I have no doubt the guys have already and will continue to learn a lot in our set-up, and we believe this exposure will benefit them as they continue to grow as players.

“We will go into more detail next week, but we ticked most of the boxes we had hoped to over the last few days, and we are looking forward to getting into match mode from next week.”

Issued by SA Rugby Communications