Boks will be ready, declares Gold

SOUTH AFRICA assistant coach Gary Gold insists there is no danger the Springboks will go into tomorrow’s first Test against the British and Irish Lions under-prepared.

There has been much debate in recent weeks that the Boks’ lack of match practice could put them at a disadvantage against a Lions squad with the benefit of playing six matches in the lead up to the first Test.

But Gold insisted: “This time last year we came together before we played Wales after finishing the Vodacom Super 14 and we didn’t have Super 14 champions in our team at the time – now we do. Most of the guys have played 13 gruelling weeks of Super 14 and some have played 15 weeks. I don’t think we are short of game time at all,” he said.