Stadium pitches, hotel beds and weather patterns have been occupying the mind of South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer as he leaves nothing to chance in the hope of leading the Springboks to World Cup glory this year.
Meyer believes off-field preparations for the tournament in England are as important as what he does with the players on the training field.
His management team have gone over every previous World Cup in detail to see how the winning side set up their campaign on and off the pitch and what the fine margins that led to success were.
“We have looked at every trend that has won a World Cup so we know exactly what it is going to take,” Meyer told reporters on Monday.
“We have studied every single weather pattern for the last 20 years so we will know what to face.
“We’ve been at the hotels, at the fields. I have guys investigating the fields now again, (breakdown skills coach) Richie Gray is there looking at conditions at the exact times that we are going to play.”
Meyer has personally visited all the Boks’ venues during the day and in the evening and was surprised by the conditions.
“I thought it was going to be slow, sluggish surfaces but most of the surfaces are football stadiums so it is short grass, very hard," he said.
“I think it’s going to be a much quicker game than we thought and we want to try and replicate everything we have seen.”
The South Africa squad is in camp this week and they practised at Cape Town’s World Cup football venue, rather than one of the city’s top school facilities as they usually do.
Meyer has personally tested the facilities his players will experience in England, including the beds they will sleep in.
“We have been to the training venue to see exactly where the media will be, how do we close it up. I have been to every single hotel, I have almost slept in every single bed.“
