Three Springbok front-rowers have opened up about the brutal pre-2019 World Cup training camp that sparked unfounded doping accusations.
A photo of shirtless Bok players, showing off chiselled physiques, went viral on social media in the build-up to the tournament in Japan.
The photo was also recently used for The Telegraph’s article that slammed the significant drop in South Africa’s drug-testing numbers.
But, according to Steven Kitshoff, Bongi Mbonambi and Trevor Nyakane, the reality was punishing rather than sinister.
The camp, led by then strength and conditioning coach Aled Walters, pushed players to their physical limits, with the front-rowers recalling sessions that left them drained and desperate for recovery.
“Something about 2019 that no one actually talks about is how tough that pre-season was with Aled Walters,” Kitshoff said on the For the Love of Rugby SA podcast. “Boys were losing three or four kilos a day!”
“Aled did a job hey,” Mbonambi said. “2019 was special and as you said, pre-season was absolutely madness. It was brutal.”
Nyakane added: “Boys had six packs in the front-row!”
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Recovery became just as intense as the training itself.
“The boys spent more time in ice baths than they did on the field,” Kitshoff joked.
Nyakane explained why: “They didn’t even have to ask us to get into the ice baths. We ran into the ice bath because you’re burning out. You’ve lost a couple of kilograms just from training, and you are dehydrated.”
While the image drew outside scrutiny, within the squad it became a symbol of the work being put in.
“Remember the photo we took in the gym? That’s an elite photo,” Mbonambi said. “That was pure hard work.”
The hooker believes the camp was designed to test mental resilience as much as physical endurance.
“I think Aled was trying to break a few guys there … They were trying to see who was going to break, who was going to give up. And no one did.”
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That shared suffering helped shape a defining team culture.
“What Rassie [Erasmus], Jacques [Nienaber], and the whole coaching staff did is that they would challenge you,” Mbonambi added. “We were win-obsessed.”
“And that’s how you build that culture,” Nyakane said.
Months later, that culture carried the Springboks to World Cup glory.
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