Thrashing New Zealand in London last week was merely a warm-up for the World Champion Springboks, as they prepare to defend their crown in earnest in France next month.
The Springboks are in Corsica, acclimatising to conditions ahead of their opening group match of the World Cup against Scotland in Marseille on the 10th of September.
Added to the heightened sense of preparedness that the Springboks are currently undertaking, is the realisation that their side of the World Cup draw, and their group in particular, has the top sides in world rugby at the moment.
The second ranked Boks have to contend with the top ranked Ireland, but first up is Scotland, who are ranked fifth in the world and seem to be growing by leaps and bounds.
The Bok pivot, Manie Libbok is very aware of the threat that Scotland poses first up.
“There is still a lot of stuff to improve on this week our mindset is to focus on Scotland and put the preparation in place for Scotland.”
If the Springboks’ World Cup group was not daunting enough, the other two sides in the top five in world rugby are in Group A, and should the Boks make the quarter-finals, they could face either the third ranked France, or fourth rated New Zealand.
Playing the hosts, France, will come with its own set of challenges, while playing the All Blacks in a knockout game will certainly be very different from the record win the green and gold scored over the All Blacks at Twickenham last Friday.
Springbok scrumhalf, Cobus Reinach explains.
”It was a good game and every game is very important but like we said it doesn’t count for anything the World Cup starts now and all the matches are the important ones so we will take a lot of confidence out of the game for us as a group but there is a lot of work left to do and we are willing to go and do it, we are ready.”
The Springboks are using their camp in Corsica to sharpen their steely World Cup resolve, in a final push before facing off against the Scots in Marseille in the south of France on Sunday the 10th of September in their opening match of the Rugby World Cup.
“It’s not a holiday, it’s a proper training camp” #Springboks #StrongerTogether pic.twitter.com/i5QCKC6ayv
— Springboks (@Springboks) August 30, 2023
Boks need to succeed through adversity:
