Australia will be a huge challenge, says Coetzee

Sep 2 • Analysis, General News, Springboks • 2523 Views • Comments Off on Australia will be a huge challenge, says Coetzee

The Springboks will continue to work hard and look for improvement as they head to Perth where they will face the Wallabies next in the 2017 Castle Lager Rugby Championship.

The second part of the Springbok squad, consisting of the forwards and some management staff, travelled to Perth on Saturday evening.

The backs arrived in Australia on Saturday morning already and immediately went to work in preparation for next Saturday’s Test, while the forwards were put through their paces in a midday session at the EG Jansen High School in Boksburg.

Springbok coach Allister Coetzee addressed the media afterwards, and mentioned that he was satisfied with the team’s preparations over the past two days following their three-day break. The Springboks arrived from Salta on Tuesday and the squad reassembled in Johannesburg on Friday morning.

According to Coetzee, the Springbok squad is in good spirit, all players are in very good health and the group is looking forward to the Australasian tour.

“Our players are in a very good space, they are all medically fit and excited about the next two weeks. While we are happy with the results against the Pumas, we will continue to work hard on our processes and we definitely want to improve on the Salta performance. We are still growing as a team and our immediate focus for now is the next Test, in Perth.

“We are not getting too far ahead of ourselves. The Wallabies, in Australia, is a huge challenge and if you look at recent contests between us, then you will see the results have been close,” explained Coetzee.

He added: “We squad had a good, high intensity session before the backs left on Friday evening, and this afternoon (Saturday) the forwards gave us another excellent effort on the training pitch.”

Regarding the impressive impact of the Springbok bench so far this season, Coetzee said:

“Nowadays, the game is faster, players are fitter and the collisions much bigger. It is therefore important to have a match 23 where every player is ready to start. We don’t look at players as good starters or good impact players. The entire match squad is selected to do a job, and our players understand that.”

Coetzee will announce his team for the September 9 Test on Thursday.