White banks on camp
23 Oct 2006
Jake White said he hopes his two-week training camp will be adequate preparation ahead of their end-of-year tour.
The Absa Currie Cup’s early conclusion means that when the Springboks depart for Ireland next week, White would have had an extended period (in relation to previous years) to prepare his squad.
“Having three weeks before our first Test makes such a big difference to our programme,” White told Beeld. “In previous years we’ve had a week or two before our first match.
In addition to the time he has with the 28-man squad, he has also had a conditioning and training camp with those contracted Boks, who were pulled out of the Currie Cup, and are touring.
White said he will endeavour to ensure that his squad would have to do minimum preparation while in the UK.
“I want to make sure everything is on place before we board that plane,” White said. “This means we could have the luxury of cancelling a practice or two if the weather in Ireland or England makes it hard to train.”
He conceded that the lack of match practice for his players would be a concern. The contracted Boks last played on 8 September at Ellis Park against Australia while the rest of his squad would not have played a competitive match in a month when they play Ireland on 11 November.
“I know that by November 11 it will be a long time since some of the lads had their last game, particularly the contracted Springboks who were not involved in the Currie Cup competition.
“When we play Ireland I will know whether the boys are rusty. Then we will also be able to see whether their training programme during the last few weeks has been successful.”
White said that the tour would provide him with valuable insight into the composition of his World Cup squad and added that the omission of experienced players like Os du Rant, Victor Matfield and Percy Montgomery was a calculated risk.
“The newcomers (Bevin Fortuin, Frans Steyn, Jaco Pretorius and Hilton Lobberts) have the opportunity to see what Test rugby is about. They are very versatile and with a view to the World Cup tournament it is important to strengthen our depth,” he said.
The Boks have an abysmal record on their last five year-end tours, particularly at Twickenham were they have lost five times dating back to 1998, conceding 152 points and scoring just 52. White was acutely aware of this and was adamant that the side were determined to reverse the fortunes.
“Our record on the last few November tours has not been good. That is why we want to win every match on this tour.”
55 Comments
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24 Oct 2006, 05:27 am
50# munkiboi
Sensitive question….dead silence!!!
24 Oct 2006, 06:55 am
Canceling a practise due to rain when you are due to play a game in the NH autumn is unbelieveable…I very much doubt the game will be cancelled for a little Scotch mist, so if Jake is afraid of melting maybe he should conduct his training sessions using Rassies cloured lights from the warm comfort of a corporate box.
Sarky
Have you considered it this way;
Macaw and So’oialo can mop the floor with any 3 world flankers, so why bother with a 3rd in the AB team.
NZ has problems at lineout time against other teams (SA, Ireland and to a lesser extent Oz recently) and have a lock (Eaton) who has been better at flanker than many flankers (Watson and most other SA flankers in the S14) so why not play 3 locks?
24 Oct 2006, 07:32 am
FinFan
Do I look like Jake White to you? I can put whatever players I want in my teams. There isn’t any ethnic blacks, except maybe Tim Dlulane that I would put in my team. As I wouldn’t pick Jacque Cronje, so I wouldn’t pick Hanyani Shimange. Its not a racist thing, its just business.
If ethnic blacks have a problem with quotas why are ethnic blacks not supporting and standing behind the Spears more!!!! I mean 57% of all the registered rugby players in SA is there…or so we were told.
The fact of the matter is, is that ethnic blacks support rugby in a minority. If you go to a rugby game, you won’t see many supporters of rugby being ethnic black. Here is the crux of the matter, if you put a soccer ball and a rugby ball on a field in Soweto and have kids just run around, which ball will get picked up first? Answer please…
24 Oct 2006, 07:51 am
here’s the thing i REALLY don’t understand about the current situation…Spies has played THREE times for the bokke..one of them was absoloutely appaling, and yet he is seen as the saviour. people ask what we will do if he gets injured. he got hammered in the currie cup final, and he is NOT the number 1 eight in south africa, as i believe that this mantle still belongs to joe van niekerk. think about it, he has never let the green and gold down, yet spies very much did once…out of only three games.
24 Oct 2006, 20:50 pm
Enigiemand hier?
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