Springboks to split squad for Rugby Championship – CONFIRMED

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber said that the team intend to repeat the plan that saw them clinch the Rugby Championship title in 2019 by splitting the squad for the opening two Tests of the competition as they zoom in on the southern hemisphere showpiece.

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This will see a group of players and management members travel to Auckland the week of the opening Test against Australia at Loftus Versfeld (on Saturday, 8 July) to acclimatise and get their preparations underway for the second Test, a week later against New Zealand at Mount Smart Stadium (Saturday, 15 July).

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This will be followed by the third and final Test of the shortened version of the tournament two weeks later against Argentina at Ellis Park in Johannesburg (Saturday, 29 July).

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“We have a pretty good idea about how we want to split the squad for the Castle Lager Rugby Championship, but a lot needs to happen before we make a call on selection,” said Nienaber.

“We’ll probably make a decision the week before the Australia Test. As we mentioned last week, we are not selecting ‘A’ and ‘B’ sides. We are doing something similar to what we did in 2019 by selecting a team that is good enough to beat Australia at Loftus Versfeld.”

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