SPRINGBOK coach Rassie Erasmus said his 33-member squad were beaming with excitement for what he anticipates will be a challenging tour to Australia, as they prepare to depart ‘Down Under’ for the Castle Lager Rugby Championship.
The Boks will launch the 2024 edition of the southern hemisphere series against the Wallabies on successive Saturdays (10 and 17 August) in Brisbane and Perth respectively, and Erasmus was pleased with the building blocks they put in place during the Castle Lager Incoming Series and the last two days in Johannesburg, where they had a two-day training camp before departing for Australia.
“We had a few good field and gym sessions on Monday and Tuesday and some of the players come off a well-deserved rest, while the younger players are beaming with excitement about this tour, so we are travelling to Australia with good groundwork already in place, and hopefully that pays off,” said Erasmus.
“We’ll arrive in Australia on Thursday and have training sessions on Friday and Saturday, so we’ll get straight into the swing of things as soon as possible to acclimatise to the conditions and environment and hit the ground running in the hope of getting off the tour to a good start.”
Commenting on what he expected from the Wallabies, Erasmus said: “They are well coached team, and they have a new coach in Joe Schmidt, so they are a proper team. They also are also a very detailed focused, and they have a few new players who we haven’t really encountered before, so we have no doubt they’ll give everything.”
The double Rugby World Cup-winning coach admitted that while their track record in Australia was not ideal, they do not believe in excuses and will give their best to sway their fortunes down under.
“We are playing against Australian team that have historically performed well at home, so we want to correct the mistakes we made in the last few games, and just as they would like to, we want to win both matches in Australia,” said Erasmus.
“When Joe was the coach of Ireland I worked closely with him during my time at Munster, and he is a man with a great work ethic and who knows how to bring the best out of his players, so we know the magnitude of the challenge that lies ahead.”
Erasmus admitted that while there was pressure on the team do turn things around in Australia, they relished the challenge.
“There was pressure on us in 2019, during the British & Irish Lions tour in 2021, and in the Rugby World Cup last year,” said Erasmus. “And we know that people expect us to win, but as always, we’ll give our best on the field and hopefully the rest will take care of itself.”
