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Cape Town - The Springboks are settling into life in Japan, getting used to the heat and humidity ahead of the 2019 World Cup.
The Boks are currently in Kumagaya preparing for Friday's warm-up clash against hosts Japan in what will be their final hit-out before the September 21 meeting with the mighty All Blacks in their tournament opener.
The South Africans were the first of the visiting nations to arrive in Japan, with coach Rassie Erasmus hoping that arriving early would get his charges used to the extreme heat and humidity that is expected to play a significant role throughout the course of the tournament.
If the Springboks' official Twitter page is anything to go by, it looks like the Boks are finding ways to cope.
In a video posted to the account on Wednesday, Bok veterans Schalk Brits and Francois Louw are seen cooling down in ice buckets after a training session.
Louw pokes fun at both his and Brits' age, saying that the older players in the squad need to "put in that little extra".
Brits is comfortably the oldest player in the Bok squad at 38 while Louw is 34.
Kick-off on Friday, meanwhile, is at 12:15 (SA time).
Teams:
Japan
15 William Tupou, 14 Kotaro Matsushima, 13 Timothy Lafaele, 12 Ryoto Nakamura, 11 Kenki Fukuoka, 10 Yu Tamura, 9 Kaito Shigeno, 8 Amanaki Mafi, 7 Pieter Labuschagne, 6 Michael Leitch (captain), 5 Uwe Helu, 4 Luke Thompson, 3 Koo Ji-won, 2 Atsushi Sakate, 1 Keita Inagaki
Substitutes: 16 Takuya Kitade, 17 Isileli Nakajima, 18 Asaeli Ai Valu, 19 James Moore, 20 Yoshitaka Tokunaga, 21 Yutaka Nagare, 22 Rikiya Matsuda, 23 Ataata Moeakiola
South Africa
15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Steven Kitshoff
Substitutes: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Tendai Mtawarira, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Francois Louw, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Frans Steyn, 23 Jesse Kriel
Conditioning 101 with Francois Louw, Schalk Brits and Lood de Jager ????#StrongerTogether #LoveJapan pic.twitter.com/C3CoofYamN
— Springboks (@Springboks) September 4, 2019
