The Stormers reaching a second consecutive United Rugby Championship (URC) final will benefit the Springboks in a massive World Cup year, according to SA Rugby director of rugby Rassie Erasmus.
With a number of Stormers players heading into a Bok training camp in Cape Town after the URC final on Saturday, they won’t have much time to celebrate if they do beat Munster, but they will go into the camp in very high spirits ahead of a crunch international season.
“We are all really excited about the Stormers having a home final again,” said Erasmus, who was head coach of the Springboks when they won the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.
“It’s not just a feel good factor. I think there is a lot of momentum that can be brought into the national set-up.
“It’s a group of confident players coming into the (Bok) squad with their personal momentum, so how you transfer that into the national team is a nice challenge to have.”
Springbok camp
Erasmus and coach Jacques Nienaber have just arrived in Cape Town from Durban after hosting the first of two preparation camps, with the second starting on Monday, and they will be hoping for a feel good factor in the camp.
“We have been able to work more with the Sharks players from the previous camp (in Durban),” said Erasmus.
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“But I think the benefit of having a team there (in the final) by far outweighs having them available to train with us more,” he added.
“Having them play a high intensity game against a quality side in a final – and hopefully they win – the player takes that momentum (into the national team) and helps us create a (winning) environment in the squad.”
The training squad for the Boks’ Cape Town camp will be named on Saturday night after the URC final, while the national squad for the Rugby Championship will be name towards the end of next month when the squad meets up in Pretoria.
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