The Springboks had a mild taste of underfoot conditions that they are likely to experience on their upcoming United Kingdom tour when they trained at the University of Cape Town’s Groote Schuur field on Thursday.
The Boks had ordered the field to heavily watered ahead of the training session in a an effort to get the players accustomed to handling a wet ball and playing on a slippery surface.
Springbok team manager Arthob Petersen said that reports from Wales is that the capital Cardiff is experiencing heavy rainfall and very low temperatures. The Boks will be playing Wales in Cardiff on Saturday, November 8. However, the fiercest weather elements are likely to be felt in Scotland where the Boks will be hosted at Murrayfield on Saturday, November 15.
“Heavy watering is perhaps one of the ways we can duplicate the weather variable,” said Petersen. “Ideally we would have liked it to rain so that the players can at least have a good run in those sort of conditions.
“But we’ll make the most of it.”
Loose forward Schalk Burger sat out at training because of a hamstring strain. Burger will not be joining in any of the training sessions ahead of the team’s UK departure on Friday. He will have a run in Cardiff when the team have their first work-out on tour on Sunday.
The other player that was feeling out of sorts was Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawarira. The loosehead prop was still feeling the after effects of last weekend’s Currie Cup final in which he helped the Sharks to triumph over the Blue Bulls in Durban.
Springbok three-quarter Jean de Villiers has overcome his stomach complaint and was full of running when backline coach Dick Muir put his charges through their paces. By the looks of things Ruan Pienaar and Earl Rose are the two players earmarked for flyhalf duties but their was no indication who will be the fullback back-up for Conrad Jantjes.