With just a few weeks left before the World Test Championship final between South Africa and Australia at Lord’s from June 11, the Proteas management team joined the rugby world champions, the Springboks at their second alignment camp in Cape Town on Thursday, May 22.
Conrad excited to join the Springboks
Proteas coach Shukri Conrad was excited about the opportunity to join the Springboks for the day and said:
It was very inspiring for us all, especially if you look at the history of the Springboks and what they achieved in the last two Rugby World Cups, which they won back-to-back. They are obviously doing a lot right, so we wanted to see what that is and also learn from one other.
It’s great learning from the different sporting codes, so it was not just about learning from them, it was also a case of us sharing ideas, and that was always the intention when Rassie and I first started chatting.
It’s a week before we leave for what is our biggest final ever, I’d like to think, and sitting in, listening, and chatting to some of the players and the coaches, and going through the presentations they did and noticing the common threads that go across both platforms was fantastic. The language is pretty much the same, and also the implementation of certain things, such as the fact that playing for the Springboks and Proteas has to be the biggest thing.
Purpose of the camp
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus and his assistant coaches outlined their core plans for the season while they entertaining the Proteas head coach Conrad and Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) High Performance management team.
Erasmus and his right-hand men started the day reiterating the team values, while also zoning in on the areas of the game they intend to focus on this season during a series of boardroom sessions with the locally-based players at the team hotel, and a host of overseas-based players virtually. The camp will conclude on Friday afternoon.
Bok coach delighted to welcome Conrad and his key personnel to the camp,
Shukri and his team have a massive assignment coming up in the ICC World Test Championship against Australia at Lords in a little under three weeks, and we hope that inviting him and his management team to our alignment camp will assist them as they put the final touches in place for the extravaganza against Australia next month.
Proteas at assemble at the end of May
The squad will assemble in Arundel on 31 May and will play a warm-up match against Zimbabwe from 03 – 06 June, before heading to London on 07 June.
ICC World Test Championship Final 2025
11 – 15 June - South Africa vs Australia – Lord’s Cricket Ground, London.
