The Springboks made the journey from Cape Town to Johannesburg on Sunday to begin their preparations for the opening match of the Incoming Series against Italy at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday, 5 July, which will kick off their jam-packed international season.
The team had Sunday off to travel and recover from Saturday’s encounter against the Barbarians and will begin their on-field preparations for the first official Test match of the season on Monday.
This Saturday’s Test at Loftus kicks off at 17:10.
Rassie Erasmus said that the selection for the opening phase of the season had been decided some time ago.
“We won’t get carried away with this performance,” said Erasmus.
“Certainly, some of the newer guys showed us that they can do it at this level, but we’ll layer them in.
“We know who is going to play in Italy one and two, and certainly by the end of the Georgia game, which will be a grind, we’ll have a group of 45, 50 that have had some game time.”
Springboks expected to kick off Test season with a win over Italy
Erasmus said that the team were looking forward to the drier conditions that can be expected in Pretoria on Saturday.
“Some of the half gaps and some of the line breaks we made would have stuck if the weather had been drier,” he said after this past Saturday’s hit out against the Barbarians. “We can’t wait to play on a dry pitch and improve on our attack.
“We want to get better, the next three matches we’ll be trying to focus on us before we hit the Rugby Championship.”
What is your score prediction for the first Test of the year?
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