Rassie chuffed with strides made in his Rugby Department: 'On a good trajectory'

SA Rugby's Director of Rugby, Rassie Erasmus, is pleased with the progress made by the governing body's Rugby Department in recent years.

"There are several highlights which we are extremely proud of, especially given the performances of most of our national teams last season, and although there may be bumps along the way, we are generally on a good trajectory in terms of our teams, refereeing and coaching structures," Erasmus said in a statement on Wednesday.

"In addition to this we are currently in the final week of our first Springbok camp for the year, which is the first time we have had such a luxury in a Rugby World Cup year."

Some of the highlights include the Blitzboks winning gold at the Commonwealth Games in England; the Junior Springboks being crowned the U20 Six Nations Summer Series Champions in Italy; the SA Under-18 team claiming the U18 International Series title on home soil; and the Springbok Women’s Sevens team clinching the Rugby Africa Women's Sevens Cup in Tunisia.

"The Springbok Women played nine Tests last year which included an away victory over Japan, while they’ve also had four training camps so far this year and are about to embark on their first tour of the new season," Erasmus added.

"Our Springbok Women's Sevens programme is also back on track. The team qualified for Commonwealth Games, featured in four tournaments, including the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series, which will again be hosted in April this year in Stellenbosch. They are also together on a full-time basis once again for the next few months.

"The Junior Springboks had a fantastic year last year under the leadership of Bafana (Nhleko), and they will soon get their preparations under way for the 2023 edition of the World Rugby U20