Exhausted Boks vow to take it in their stride

The Springboks are not looking for excuses when it comes to player fatigue, even though coach Heyneke Meyer admitted after Saturday's win against Wales that the team looked "tired".

The national team scraped home 31-30 against the Welsh in Nelspruit with a strangely lethargic performance that prompted some concern from Meyer.

"I am worried about the state of the players because at this time of year I've never seen players so tired," the coach said.

"It's not an excuse, but the great thing now is that some players are not available and they can have a break. We'll have new, fresh faces in the team and that should provide some new energy."

Team doctor Craig Roberts admitted that the current situation, in which players have heavy workloads with their franchises before joining the Boks, was not ideal, but was unavoidable.

"There's no doubt the guys have played a lot of rugby. Super rugby is high-intensity rugby. It's almost like Test rugby," Roberts said.

"We always knew that would be the case. The schedule is what it is. We try to manage the players as best we can.

"It's not only about playing on the weekend, but also trying to manage their training load. If we could modify the training load and try to get that down a bit, it would be great. But it is what it is."

Roberts added it would not be fair to place blame on clubs or provinces.

"It's always difficult and it's an ongoing issue with club versus country. I think all the franchises are very good at that. In the end they are also out there trying to win every game and have their strongest team, so it's a tricky situation to try to balance," he said.

Seven overseas-based players were released back to their clubs at the weekend, meaning several players who have played very little rugby over the past month will add some new vibrancy to the squad.

Veteran prop Jannie du Plessis admitted that the schedule was tough, but that it was a situation that players had to adapt to.

"We [the Sharks] played eight matches on the trot, of which four were overseas and now four Tests on the trot," Du Plessis said.

"It's not like the intensity decreases. It's the opposite.

"To play matches in 12 consecutive weekends against the best teams in the world is tough. We've been through it in the past and have managed it.

" Tough though it is to play so much week after week, the challenge remains. We have to somehow keep up the pace ," he said.