Bok coach stresses importance of camp in World Cup year: 'We need to make every minute count'

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber is happy with the progress made after the conclusion of the second week of their three-week "physical and rugby development" camp.

Fourteen frontline Springboks assembled in Cape Town on 19 February for the camp, which will shift to Stellenbosch on Sunday.

"It has been great to see the players' attitude and their application of what we've been working through," Nienaber said on Friday.

"Our focus in the first week was mainly on the rugby fundamentals and building a base from a physical point of view. This week we built on that by working on more specific rugby conditioning to add the off-field alignment sessions.

"We'll close off the camp in Stellenbosch late next week where we plan to step up the intensity of our field sessions and build on what we achieved this week."

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Nienaber said the camp was vital to the team's preparations for the Rugby World Cup in France in September and October.

"We have six Test matches before the Rugby World Cup and then we face the massive task of trying the defend our title, so every opportunity we receive to work with the players is of importance," said Nienaber.

"This camp has been extremely beneficial in that it offered us the opportunity to fine-tune the fundamentals of our game, build greater alignment in terms of our structures and get the players back into shape after a well-deserved rest period.

"There's a little over six months left before the international showpiece, and we need to make every minute count on and off the field to ensure that we achieve the goals we set out and peak at the right time."

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