Jacques Nienaber is keeping the Springboks on their toes as the defending world champions began World Cup preparations in Cape Town this week. DYLAN JACK reports.
A 14-player mini-squad assembled in Cape Town on Sunday for the first camp of a year that will have all eyes looking towards France in September.
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While explaining the purpose of the camp during a press conference on Wednesday, Nienaber was keen to emphasise that there was no point in reading too much into the players that had been selected for the camp. The main goal of the camp, he said, was to manage the workload of players who had not been able to take a break since the 2021 British & Irish Lions series.
The usual suspects were all present during a training session at Rondebosch Boys’ High, including captain Siya Kolisi, lock Eben Etzebeth, veteran props Steven Kitshoff and Frans Malherbe, plus Vodacom Bulls backs Kurt-Lee Arendse and Canan Moodie.
During the press conference, Nienaber was asked about the growth he had seen in the Springboks , especially after they missed a year of development in 2020.
“Last year was an interesting year,” Nienaber said. “If you just go and bat for your own win percentage, you wouldn’t have made the changes in that second Wales Test, for example. Then a guy like Kurt-Lee Arendse would never have had the opportunity and Canan Moodie would never have come through.
“There were questions of why would you make 18 changes from one Test to another? Secure the series first. Although winning will always be our main strategic goal, development, creating squad depth and giving experience to players was massive last year.
“It came through at the back end of last season, we got some nice answers. The team is embracing the changes that we have made. We must make sure that from a leaders’ perspective, we must continue driving that creativity, otherwise things will catch up to us. There are certain creative things that we are trying to do.
“We mustn’t get arrogant and think that if we do the same things that we did in 2019, we will win the World Cup again. That’s arrogance. You have to change, adapt and evolve. Last year was big for us in terms of that.
“It’s a process. We got to grips with the changes that we wanted at the back end of the season.”
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The Springboks finished 2022 with eight out of 13 wins and Nienaber said the inconsistency was a result of the changes that were being made, which came right on the end of year tour to Europe, where the Springboks pushed Ireland and France to the limit, before demolishing Italy and beating England at Twickenham.
“You probably start those changes on training fields, without pressure of winning or losing,” Nienaber explained. “Then you want your change to come through in a Test match, where your country’s name is at stake. That takes time. It’s more of a mental development.
“You have to be put into a position where you must make a decision and sometimes you must fail at that decision. That will help you. Failure is a way of evolving and developing. None of us just got onto a bike and started riding it, we all fell off a couple of times. So this did take some time.”
In terms of when the final World Cup squad would be named, Nienaber said that it would be at a date specified by World Rugby. As for the squads that will play in the shortened Rugby Championship, Nienaber said that a final date had yet to be decided for the announcement, but that would it not take place before the end of the domestic tournaments.
Photo: Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images