Bok coach Jacques Nienaber in Cape Town during a national camp. Picture: Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images
Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber will keep the door wide open ahead of the team’s defence of the World Cup when they head to France later this year.
Nienaber has confirmed he and his coaching team are tracking a group of about 60 players ahead of the international season, which culminates with the World Cup towards the end of the year.
The Boks are the current holders of the Webb Ellis Cup, having won the tournament in 2019 in Japan.
Nienaber was speaking at a media gathering in Cape Town on Wednesday where a small group of players are attending the year’s first alignment camp.
The group of 14 have been participating in a series of gym and field sessions with the Bok management team.
Bok boss Nienaber though warned no one was guaranteed a World Cup place.
“The biggest mistake one can make is to assume that these players (at the camp) will be in the Rugby World Cup squad,” he said.
“The door is open for any player to throw their name into the mix.
“We are currently tracking around 60 players. We used close to 50 players in the last two years since the Covid pandemic, many of whom were in our bubble, but that said, form does influence selection and the door is always open for someone who is not necessarily in the mix to prove that he deserves a place in the squad, as Herschel Jantjies did in 2019.”
The Boks’ head of athletic performance, Andy Edwards, also addressed the media on Wednesday.
“We have players all around the world so it is important for us to enter the year in a sensible way.
“We measured a few things from the last World Cup to now and there are a few things that have stood out, such as the way the season has evolved and demands on the players (who now play in the north and south, almost year-round).”
The Boks kick off their 2023 season with the Rugby Championship in July, when they will face Australia, Argentina and New Zealand.
They will then play three World Cup warm-up matches before heading to France and the World Cup, which starts on September 10.
The Boks first play Scotland in Marseille before taking on Romania in Bordeaux and that’s followed by pool matches against Ireland and Tonga.
The World Cup quarter-finals and semi-finals take place on October 14/15 and October 20/21, with the final scheduled for October 28.
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