Bokwatch 01 – News from the Bok training camp

In the huge first installment of Bokwatch, Jake White speaks about the relocation of the Springbok training camp to Durban, everyone’s talking about Eddie Jones’ involvement with the Boks, Bob Skinstad is expecting loads of support from the French and Monty speaks about his role as team fines manager.

The Springbok training camp moved from Cape Town to Durban over the weekend. The team was forced to miss a training session on Friday as storms lashed the Cape. However, Jake White does not see the missed session as too much of a problem.

“I am just fortunate that I have had these players working with me now for so long, “ said the Bok coach.

“Everyone knows each other so well, we are not doing any last-minute cramming ahead of this World Cup, we are just fine-tuning things, so we can afford to miss a training session here and there,

“Hopefully what we missed out on in Cape Town we can make up in Durban.

“The reason I did not want the guys to train on Friday was because I considered it an unnecessary risk. The field was very muddy and slippery, and we don’t want a key player to go over on his ankle at this stage and be ruled out of the World Cup,” explained White.

The big talking point over the last week has been the involvement of former Wallaby coach Eddie Jones in the Bok practice sessions. He was even seen sporting a Springbok tracksuit at training.ARU boss John O’Neill has questioned Jones’ patriotism while everyone in the Bok camp seems to be thrilled to have the Aussie involved. Jones is even likely to replace Rassie Erasmus on the Bok coaching staff for the World Cup tournament.

“I don’t think people realise what a coup this is if we can get it passed,” said Jake White.

“Eddie is not someone who coached at international level several years ago, he has been recently involved, and he took his team to the final of the last World Cup, only losing out to a drop-goal 30 seconds from the end of extra time.

“He has an intimate knowledge of not only the Aussies, but also the other teams.

“Should we meet the Wallabies at the World Cup, which if everything goes according to our plan would be in the final, then we could have a crucial advantage over them by having Eddie on board.

“In some ways Rassie’s decision to take up the Stormers’ job has helped us because we’ve been lucky enough to bring in someone of Jones’ calibre.

“There will be a few subtle things that he has taught the players. We will be stupid if we do not make use of his knowledge.

“Eddie is impressed by the power and pace of our players. It will be good for the team if he can add some detail. The Wallabies offer more on the attack than most other countries,” said White.

Jones has been given the go-ahead by his new employers Saracens to assist with the Bok World Cup effort.

“Saracens are quite happy, they know it will help them in the long run,” said Jones.

“For me it’s a great opportunity to be involved with a wonderful team and it can only benefit Saracens in the future.

“I think I can help in the attack area and bring some new ideas. That’s one of the great things when you bring someone from a different rugby culture into the set-up,” said the formerly-despised-now-lauded Australian.

Despite ARU boss John O’Neill branding him unpatriotic to be help one of the Wallabies’ arch-rival, Jones was unrepentant.

“No one can accuse me of not giving 100 percent to Australian rugby when I was there,” he said.

“I’ve moved on. The Springboks have a fine structure and can beat any team. It’s only about adding a little detail.

“I support the team I’m working with. At the moment, I am working with South Africa.”

Diminutive Springbok manager Zola Yeye spoke in glowing terms of Jones’ involvement with the Boks.

“Eddie has valuable coaching experience. He understands the challenges of the World Cup tournament. It is clever of SA Rugby to make use of his services.

“The players really enjoy Eddie’s input and Jake White is happy, which is very important,” said the pint-sized manager.

Meanwhile, Bobby Skinstad revealed that the Boks may get a good deal of backing from the French locals during the World Cup tournament.

“In the back of my mind I know that the French and the South Africans have a good relationship. They have always had a respect, a healthy respect, for our players.

“We’ve got a lot of players over there at the moment, they like the way we play and they take our players because of the physical attributes.

“They get behind us when we’ve been there. Nick Mallett was a coach there and he got a standing ovation when he coached that squad, which I was a part of, that beat France 52-10.

“That day they cheered us off the field and they booed their own team off the field.

“I’m not saying they’ll do that if we play against France, but if we play against other teams I think we’ll have a very good support base there and I’m very happy about that,” concluded Skinstad.

Percy Montgomery also took some time out to talk about the Bok training camp, and his role as a senior statesman in particular.

“The time in camp has been great for us and the more we train together the better we’ll get,” said the experienced Bok fullback.

“Of course there’s no replacement for competitive action and that’s why the Tests against Namibia and Scotland will be important.

“But there’s still over a month left before we start and that’s more than enough time to hone our combinations.
 
“Each of the back three have defined roles dependent on the opposition. I feel that my attacking game has come on nicely in the last four years and so I’m not too worried about that criticism.

“I try and set an example to the younger guys rather than shouting and screaming out on the field. I hope that the way I train and approach matches has a positive impact on the guys.

“But I definitely don’t have the same level of responsibility on-field as I have at the Sharks, who have a lot of young players in the backline.

“I tend to be a little less serious with the off-field stuff. As the most experienced player in the side I’m in charge of the fines meetings, so I’m constantly on the lookout for the okes doing stupid things so that I can nail them. That’s a role I enjoy a lot more than being a mentor.

“The way I see it is that I have seven games left and they’ll all be big finals. I’m not going to retire wondering if I could have done more to win the World Cup for the Boks. I’m leaving everything out there,” concluded Monty.