The Springboks are back in camp and head coach Rassie Erasmus and his management have set the wheels in motion ahead of the 2025 Test season to continue their success on the field.
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The Springboks have set up a unique tool to track the players they’ve called up for the first alignment camp of the season in Cape Town during the United Rugby Championship (URC) without it impacting their respective franchises.
The world champions began their first steps toward the 2025 international season with a three-day camp on Monday, during which head coach Rassie Erasmus and his management plan to align the selected players with their vision for this year’s Tests and beyond.
South Africa will play 15 Tests, two must still be confirmed, and it will continue the Boks’ path of rebuilding and testing new players who will take over from the senior guys not making the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.
Erasmus explained that Sebastian Prim, the Springboks’ sports scientist, built an effective platform where the national side could stay up to speed with the players following URC games. They did so without meddling in with the work on a franchise level.
“Last season, Sebastian was the right-hand man of Andy Edwards (fitness coach), but he is so skillful and is excellent with trends, Excel, and online assessment of players,” according to Erasmus.
"He built us something where a player takes 15 minutes to complete a questionnaire for us (the Bok coaches) after a game - questions about the player’s game, whether he is satisfied with how he played, and his work rate.
“It asks nothing that would influence the gameplan of the franchise, but it gave us that player’s information (after the specific game they played). That is how we stay afloat of where the players are.”
According to Erasmus, they will now incorporate those things during the camp to help the players get to the level they want them to be at.
It is especially invaluable with the younger players joining the Springbok setup for the first time.
Erasmus also explained what happens in a week for the coaches of the national side.
On a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, they will analyse matches involving their players or the opposition they will face. Tuesdays are set out for operational matters and catch-ups with players after the weekend’s matches.
“Thursday, the coaches must present. If it’s Tony (Brown, attack coach), we will all shoot into his department, pointing out things that could be a problem. The following Thursday, it’s the turn of Deon (Davids, forwards coach), then Stokke (Mzwandile Stick, backline coach), and then Daan (Human, scrum coach).
“With this, we try to get better by the day.
“We will start implementing all this information we have gathered over the last few months on Monday (today).”