The Springbok Women's team practice their scrumming during a training camp. Picture: @WomensBoks via Twitter
CAPE TOWN - Springbok Women’s coach Stanley Raubenheimer says he’s pleased with what the group achieved during their national training camp in Stellenbosch.
A squad of 24 players assembled at the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport early in January for the first two months of the camp. For the last two weeks, that number was bumped up to 40 players, where the women measured their progress in three matches.
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While the dates for the postponed Rugby World Cup in New Zealand are yet to be announced, Raubenheimer was satisfied with their improvement in the areas they set out to work on.
“The objective (of the training camp) was to improve from a conditioning perspective, and we can say with certainty that we ticked that box – the players have done well,” he said.
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“We also had the opportunity to test them in match situations, which gave us a good insight into all the factors we have been working on, including strength and endurance, so I’m pleased with what we achieved.”
With an eye on the Women's Premier and Division One League competitions later in the season, Raubenheimer said: “The matches also formed part of our conditioning, so the implementation of the match structure as such was not the main priority for me, but rather our ability to get through matches, and we managed to do that without injuries,” said Raubenheimer.
The action is 🔥 in the Springbok Women’s camp with Nadine Roos scoring a pearler of a try 💪![CDATA[]]>🏼@RugbyAfrique pic.twitter.com/p32HmmYRWn
— Springbok Women (@WomenBoks) March 26, 2021
“They were hard physical contests, and particularly if one considers that players have not played a game in nearly a year-and-a-half.
“From that perspective it was pleasing to see that they came through three back-to-back contact sessions, as it also allowed us to test our recovery protocols for the Rugby World Cup.”
@WynonaLouw