The choice was according to his intention to present a gaggle of players a well-deserved break earlier than the Springboks start their preparations for the 2024 Castle Lager Rugby Championship marketing campaign.
Erasmus released 16 players from camp on Wednesday afternoon, which is able to permit them a 10-day break earlier than the Rugby Championship squad assembles in Johannesburg subsequent week Sunday. The squad for the southern hemisphere spectacle is predicted to be introduced throughout the course of subsequent week.
The players launched are:
- Siya Kolisi
- Pieter-Steph du Toit
- Marco van Staden
- Kwagga Smith
- Jasper Wiese
- Eben Etzebeth
- Vincent Koch
- Frans Malherbe
- Gerhard Steenekamp
- Bongi Mbonambi
- Malcolm Marx
- Willie le Roux
- Cheslin Kolbe
- Faf de Klerk
- Handre Pollard
- Jesse Kriel
The two Springboks offering cowl for the 23-man squad named for the historic conflict towards Os Lobos are prop Ox Nche and utility again Grant Williams.
RASSIE ON THE SPRINGBOKS’ PLAYER-MANAGEMENT PLA
“We have a demanding Rugby Championship campaign coming up, and we’ve been in training camps and competition respectively since June, so we thought it would be beneficial to give the players who are not playing this weekend a proper break to regenerate,” stated the Springboks boss.
“The players have Thursday off and we solely have the captains run left on Friday earlier than the match, so it is smart to present the players not concerned within the match a while off.
“We are playing back-to-back Test matches against the Wallabies in Australia next month, and then the Springboks face New Zealand on successive weekends in South Africa, followed by a short tour to Argentina and then a trip to Nelspruit where we will conclude the tournament against Los Pumas, so we have to be sensible in how we manage the players to get the most out of them on the field.”
Commenting on the choice to retain solely two Springboks as damage cowl within the squad, Erasmus stated: “Bloemfontein is only a flight away if we need additional cover, and since we had a big group of players who are all fully clued up on what we expect from Portugal, so believe this is the best decision for the team.”
Source link
