Jersey sojourn helping Boks acclimatise ahead of UK Tests

Springbok assistant coach Deon Davids says the training sojourn to Jersey ahead of the end-of-year-tour has gone well and they are now wrapping up preparations before they head off to Scotland at the end of the weekend.

The Boks decided to use Jersey, which is the largest of the Channel Islands between France and England, as their base of operations over the past week ahead of their tour, which will see them take on Scotland, England and Wales over the next three weekends.

With its close proximity to the UK, the conditions on the island are similar to what the Boks are expected to experience, so they should be well prepared by the time of their first game against Scotland next Sunday.

“This is the first time for many of us coming here to Jersey, and it has been a refreshing decision to come here. If you look at the facilities we have trained in they have been good and it is a fantastic environment on a beautiful island,” explained Davids.

“It is also close to the UK. So it makes sense to have a camp here to help us train in conditions that we can expect over this three Test series. It’s been a good decision so far as we have been able to acclimatise to the conditions nicely.”

The Boks have lost a number of players in the build-up to the tour, with three players dropping out of the squad initially named, and four coming into the group.

No worries

There are however no injury worries in the current group after their week of training and all will be available for selection for the first Test of tour.

“At this stage everyone is fit and ready to go. They are working very hard and we have a full squad available that has been preparing for the coming Test matches,” said Davids.

The Boks, as they have done over the past few years, continued to surprise with their injury replacements, although they started off like for like by replacing utility forward Jan-Hendrik Wessels with prop Wilco Louw and hooker Johan Grobbelaar.

However they then replaced utility back Damian Willemse with loose forward Cameron Hanekom, and prop Frans Malherbe with flyhalf Jordan Hendrikse, with Davids explaining it was all part of their plan.

“There has obviously been good clarity between the head coach and the selectors in terms of the planning and where we want to go. I think a part of our strategic plans is to build depth and experience building towards the World Cup (in 2027),” said Davids.

“We also look at the broader squad in what is needed, where we stand with caps and how we are aligned in reaching our specific goals.

“So although we may not make like for like replacements, there is a bigger plan looking at the squad and what we want to achieve. Everyone is aligned and everyone is clear in terms of what we want to do.”