The Springboks’ season officially starts on Monday morning in Cape Town when the first of three alignment camps of head coach Rassie Erasmus kicks off.
A group of 56 players will be involved in gymnasium and boardroom sessions until Wednesday as Erasmus and his assistants aim to bring the players up to speed with how they see the 2025 international season unfolds.
It’s the only alignment camp that will have this big number of players, with some of them probably set to have their only involvement with the double World Cup-winning side for the year. But it will lay a fundamental platform for the national side as they aim to have an extended pool of players to select from ahead of the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.
Erasmus this past week alluded to that he will definitely cut his group ahead of their second camp later this year, but it will be vital for the players in his plans, even beyond the World Cup, to know what is expected of them. And that is why the first group consists of so many players who have been performing in the United Rugby Championship (URC).
The likes of the Sharks’ Jurenzo Julius, and JF van Heerden and Reinhardt Ludwig (both Bulls), will have their first taste of Springbok rugby at the camp, and should be like sponges to take in as much information as they can. While they’ve been rubbing shoulders with Boks at a franchise level, they will experience a new type of way the World Champions do things off the field.
There are 13 other uncapped players in the camp with Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Celimpilo Gumede, Suleiman Hartzenberg and Henco van Wyk having experienced some sort of involvement with the national side before.
“There’s something special about the guys and we want to work with that,” Erasmus said, about inviting so many youngsters.
“We are looking at all positions and all options to ensure we are covered. If you look at our chart and succession planning, we have a nice spread of older guys, amber guys between 25 and 30 years old, and younger players. There is a nice spread of the 84 players we invited to the camps.”
Rassie can’t wait for the Springboks to play in front of a special Gqeberha crowd in July 🙌🇿🇦 pic.twitter.com/pLdIq021bd
