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South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus has released 16 players from his 41-man Springboks squad in order to give them a “proper break” ahead of the Rugby Championship.
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Almost every player that is not involved in South Africa’s fixture with Portugal in Bloemfontein on Saturday has been granted a ten-day break ahead of assembling in Johannesburg on Sunday July 28.
With Erasmus fielding an experimental Bok side against Os Lobos with seven debutants in the squad, the bulk of South Africa’s frontline players have been granted a rest as many have been in camp since June.
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The only two members of the squad that have been retained who are not in line to face Portugal are loosehead prop Ox Nche and versatile back Grant Williams.
Once the full squad reassembles, they will set their sights on their clash with the Wallabies in Brisbane on August 10.
“We have a demanding Castle Lager 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,” said Erasmus.
“The players have Thursday off and we only have the captains run left on Friday before the match, so it makes sense to give the players not involved in the match some time off.
“We are playing back-to-back Test matches against the Wallabies in Australia next month, and then we 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.
“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.”
Good call from Rassie even without South Africa’s grueling playing schedule, and I was surprised the All Blacks didn’t do the same [flight not easy but then that’s why you would want to leave some behind] with all but one flying out. I’d like to see more of this diversity in rugby teams, having to rely on players like Grant Williams.
What sort of breaks and rest periods have Bok players had since rugby started after COVID?