The Springboks most valuable players will undertake a phased conditioning programme after the Tri-Nations campaign as part of the South African Rugby Union’s long-term planning for 2011, it was confirmed on Friday.
Twenty contracted Springboks will be placed on tailored programmes for a four-week period to manage their workload in the middle of a busy 2010 season and in preparation for the Rugby World Cup campaign.
As a result players may not appear in the Currie Cup tournament until the semifinal stages in mid October.
“We undertook a similar programme in 2006 and were satisfied with the results and have again had buy-in from the provincial unions and our competition sponsor, and from SuperSport,” said Andy Marinos, manager of National Teams.
“The significant difference this time is that the players will appear in the knockout stages of the Currie Cup — something that didn’t happen in 2006.
“That was a strategic decision as we wanted to give the players some game time before the end-of-season tour, which will be deliberately approached as if it were a World Cup campaign.”
The Springboks conclude their Tri-Nations campaign in Bloemfontein on September 4 after which non-contracted Springboks will disperse back to their provinces.
The contracted Springboks will attend a series of private mini-camps to focus on different aspects of their physical conditioning.
They will return to their provinces in time for the Currie Cup semifinals on October 16.
The end of season tour – which features matches against all four Home Unions – begins against Ireland in Dublin on November 6.
The contracted Springboks are:
Andries Bekker, Bakkies Botha, Heinrich Brüssow, Schalk Burger, Bismarck du Plessis, Fourie du Preez, Jaque Fourie, Bryan Habana, Adrian Jacobs, Ricky Januarie, Tendai Mtawarira, Victor Matfield, Wynand Olivier, Ruan Pienaar, JP Pietersen, Danie Rossouw, John Smit, Juan Smith, Morné Steyn and Pierre Spies.