The Springboks operate one of the most demanding, but successful high performance environments in world sport.
Back to back World Cups, a Lions series win, sitting #1 team in the world with a deep talent pool coming through their pathways, showing how consistently the system delivers.
For the Springboks, coaching instinct carries real weight, with Rassie Erasmus supported by the likes of Felix Jones, Tony Brown and Jerry Flannery. Their performance staff must translate the rugby into their physical plan, to connect what happens on the grass with how players are managed across camp.
On the objective side, STATSports plays a key role.
Informing Springbok training in real-time
The Springboks coaching staff use our live data on the Sonra Live iPad app during training, not to override rugby decisions, but to inform them.
Sports Scientist, Sebastian Prim, has the role of monitoring the session live and communicating with Head of Athletic Performance Andy Edwards.
Ultimately, we’re a rugby based team and what happens on the field takes priority, but the metrics we obtain are super useful for guiding us.”
The live data informs how the staff adjust drills and manage individual loads, ensuring what happens on the field is optimal.
For Edwards, that instant visibility strengthens coaching communication.
“Sometimes we can even look at each other and communicate without speaking, the live capture is an essential part of mine and Seb’s on field relationship.”
The ease of the live data has helped create a shorthand between Prim and Edwards, keeping the flow of the session without stopping to check or second guess anything.
Return to Play
The value of reliability is increased in return to play situations, which is where decisions are most effective when it comes to using GPS data. One wrong step and it could lead to a reinjury, costing a player a test cap.
Edwards explains why:
“To gauge whether players are selectable for the weekend or the following week, our medical team need the data live as the player goes through RTP protocols.”
Prim reinforces what exactly the medical team are looking for within the live data.
“For return to play it’s super useful, on the iPad we can monitor high speed running, accelerations, decelerations and total volume immediately.”
For the Springboks, this allows for RTP sessions to be precise, allowing for injury returns to be as efficient as possible, ensuring injuries don’t dominate coaching team meetings.
Live data helps coaches coach in the moment, not just analyse it afterwards.
A system that keeps up with the tour schedule
Pre-Session
At this level, on big tours away from home, schedules are tight & strict. STATSports fits into that rhythm by keeping the workflow as simple as possible.
For Prim, one of the most important attributes of any data system is it’s efficiency.
“Our programme is down to the minute. The ease of setup and use is super, super easy, the pods connect straight away and we’re ready to go.”
From travelling to training, setting up the equipment and getting players pods live, right through to post-session downloads, it’s imperitive that the system doesn’t cause unneccesary headaches for Prim.
Post -Session
After training, the staff need the data immediately for feedback, medical updates and planning. That’s why fast download speed is essential before creating reports.
“The download is really good. We can collect the data very quickly, get it into reports, and share those with players and management.”
With STATSports, sessions are downloaded and customisable reports are created in a matter of seconds. Before everyone is on the team bus, there will be a report ready for coaches and medical staff.
This keeps communication flowing between departments – S&C, medical, analysts and coaches, without slowing the schedule.
A data system only works if it supports the pace of the environment, not complicates it.
Bringing together such a diverse squad – the value of club team integration
new players with new tactics and new physical demands
The Springboks face a unique challenge: selecting and preparing players from a pool of more than 20 clubs, across four leagues and five countries, all with different schedules, training demands and cultures.
Regardless of where players come in from, the Springboks have unique demands for any player coming in. A key consideration for Edwards is projecting how the tactical side looks onto his programming.
Our understanding of what the Springbok training plan does, how we periodise the season, how we would like the players to train in direction with the coaches tactical plan, is really important.
For Edwards, the GPS data helps to mesh new players with the tacitical direction of the team and physically how that translates into his programming.
When everyone comes in from all those environments, GPS acts as a great foundation to know are we on or off track.
For us, it’s big in our alignment process with the players.
Integration with the Sharks
The alignment becomes significantly easier when bringing in players from teams using the same system – most notably The Sharks, where mulitple legendary current Springboks like Eben Etzebeth, Siya Kolisi & Ox Nche have come from.
“Seeing the Sharks’ data is super useful. It gives us insight into where those players are and the volumes they’ve done.”
This allows for Prim and the Springboks staff to have a more informed approach when it comes to integrating players back from club, into national team duty.
In the case of the Sharks, it’s no fluke they have almost an entire starting XV of Springboks.
In a perfect world we’d love everybody to be using STATSports and we’d be able to get everyone’s data.
For the Sharks, it gives us a unique insight into their players in particular.
For Edwards, it makes his entire process throughout a season easier, especially when it comes to players coming between club and national teams, further enhancing the relationships with those clubs year on year.
“Using the same software enhances how we work together, from training weeks to pre season planning to RTP.”
Shared systems lead to shared understanding, which shortens the time it takes to align a squad. This strengthens the link between certain clubs and the national team, or in some cases, academy teams to the first team.
Takeaway for practitioners
The Springboks are a great example of how STATSports can play a key role across different facets of the performance team, while not completely taking over.
“It’s never the one thing… it becomes an important part of the puzzle, but it’s just one piece.”
STATSports has become an important part of how the Springboks maintain clarity and alignment, but as Edwards says, we are just one piece of the puzzle.
In a team operating at such elite standards, every piece matters.
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