The team wrapped up the first block of training on Thursday and will spend the weekend with their families before reporting for duty again in a few days, where they continue to build on their structures for the opening leg of the tournament, which will feature back-to-back Test matches against the Wallabies in Johannesburg on Saturday 16 August and Cape Town on 23 August.

"We had an intense week of conditioning to get the players ready for what will undoubtedly be a challenging Castle Lager Rugby Championship campaign against some of the top teams in the world, so we are pleased with the strides made and the mind-shift the players made for what will be a completely different contest against Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina," said Erasmus.

"We identified a few key areas of our game that we felt we needed to improve on after the Castle Lager Incoming Series, and we incorporated those areas into our training and conditioning blocks this week.

"The teams we will face in the next few months will ask different questions and pose different challenges, so it was important for the group to align on what to expect in the next few weeks, so this camp was vital in ensuring that we prepare adequately for what lies ahead."

The training camp featured a series of gym and field training sessions, as well as boardroom sessions, and Erasmus said they will delve deeper into the opposition from next week.

"We laid a good foundation this week, and next week we will zone more into what we expect from Australia and start developing plans to counter what we expect from them," he said.

"They showed last week against the British & Irish Lions what they are capable of, so we need to be ready mentally and physically for what they will throw at us in South Africa."

The matches against Australia will be followed by successive Tests against the All Blacks in Auckland and Wellington (on 6 and 13 September) and Los Pumas in Durban and London (on 27 September and 4 October).

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