Alignment camps have many moving parts - Bok boss bullish on where players stand

Alignment camps – a convergence of hotly contested players and positions – aren’t proof positive that a player will make the Test squad, Jacques Nienaber stressed on Sunday.

According to the coach, there has been a lot of innuendo about what the purpose of them is.

A camp similar to this is set for Cape Town next month, where the same names seen in Durban could possibly be there, or not.

What should give the public comfort, according to Springbok head coach Nienaber is that nothing is set in stone.

In other words: you are seen, keep it up, but if you don’t, there are two reasons for it – you haven’t risen to the occasion or the plan does not work for you.

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"When we invite players to an alignment camp, 80 percent of it is generic, but sometimes we invite people to the alignment camp for specific things we want from a player and that might differ from player to player."

The other 20 percent will differ from individual to individual, the Bok boss said. 

He didn’t stop there. He made it a point that it was a meet and greet for some, while for others, who he knew were aligned, wouldn’t get as much attention. 

"Not everybody that gets invited to this alignment camp will get automatically invited to the next," he said.

He said one invitation doesn’t secure a life-long invitation, including for the Welsh series. The same is true for those who were not included in camps.

For the coach, there are many players who have never attended these socials, but have gone on to be superb for the Springboks.

"It is purely for the players to get aligned with us and for us to get aligned with the player," he offered.

He made it seem that player omissions were down to