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The Springboks 'intense' alignment camps pre-England visit have pleased Erasmus

By Ben Spratt
Jesse Kriel. Photo / Getty Images

South Africa director of rugby Rassie Erasmus confident the Springboks are in position to make significant improvements in the June internationals against Wales and England.

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The side have won just two of their last eight Test matches, with Erasmus leading a process to enhance their performances in 2018 following the sacking of head coach Allister Coetzee.

He is pleased with the progress so far, believing South Africa will develop as desired if staff and officials deliver as expected in their next fixtures.

“We were able to work with a total of 34 players from three different franchises during the first two,” Erasmus said of the Springboks’ alignment camps.

“I am sure that, after the final camp, we would have covered a lot of groundwork with most of the players we have in mind for the June internationals.

“The sessions are intense and we are confident that everyone – players, coaching staff and the various franchise team representatives who sat in during all the sessions – will all be aligned and have a clear picture of our plans for Wales and England after these camps.

“I want to reiterate that the success of the June Tests will be determined by how the Springbok coaching staff and the players follow through on what was agreed upon at the camps when the players are back at their franchise teams.”

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Watch episode one of the ‘Rugby Exlporer’ with Jim Hamilton.

Ex-Scotland international, Jim Hamilton, travels to Singapore to explore the city and find out more about the rugby scene in the Southeast Asian country. He meets up with the national team captain and several local players.

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J
Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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