It’s been 20 years since the Springboks underwent the gruelling Kamp Staaldraad ahead of the 2003 Rugby World Cup, and the events of the camp are still being discussed.
What was Kamp Staaldraad?
The camp the South Africans endured ahead of the Rugby World Cup was hugely controversial at the time, with then-Springboks head coach Rudolf Straeuli facing allegations of human rights violations.
The players were stripped naked and forced to pump up rugby balls in a freezing lake or have an egg broken over their heads.
They were also forced to crawl naked across the veld and were starved for several days with little water.
The Springboks were also instructed to climb into a trench naked and told to sing the national anthem with ‘God Save the Queen’ and the Haka blared through speakers. They also had to slaughter and cook chickens but could not eat them.
Understandably, many players were not happy with the events that occurred on the camp.
Juan Smith’s takeaway
However, former Springboks’ flanker and 2007 Rugby World Cup winner Juan Smith took plenty of positives away from the experience.
“I was very happy about Kamp Staaldraad,” the Springbok, who was just 22 years old at the time, told Rapport newspaper.
“For me, as a rookie who never did army training, it had an enormous influence on the player I eventually became.
“Doing gruelling physical exercise with used tyres – among other things – and surviving for more than three days without food is something I would have never imagined myself doing before.
“It made me realise how far you can push your body, and being able to get through that showed me that nothing is impossible.”
This week, Rapport spoke to several players who attended the camp, and Smith wasn’t the only player who wasn’t too bothered by the experience.
Former Springboks and Sharks back Stefan Terblanche told the newspaper that it was tough, but it didn’t leave him with emotional scars.
“I just saw it as team building,” Terblanche said. “However, it was not a well-thought-out decision. We worked incredibly hard all year on our conditioning and scientifically put all the right things in place for the Rugby World Cup, only to break down our bodies like that in the woods two weeks before.
“Barely three weeks later, we had to face England in Perth and with our bodies still not recovered from five days without food or water. The timing of Kamp Staaldraad was incredibly poor.”
John Smith and Schalk Burger’s experience
Three years ago, former Springboks John Smit, Schalk Burger and Jean de Villiers discussed Kamp Staaldraad on the YouTube show ‘Use it or Lose it’.
Recounting what happened, Burger explained their introduction.
“We were on the bus on the way to the camp,” Burger said.
“John (Smit) obviously got a tip-off or heard something about the camp, so he snuck a lighter on the inside of his cap so that we could light a fire.
“We were bare feet; we had to strap our feet up. They transported us from a bus to a truck; when we went back to the bus, Bakkies Botha let out this enormous fart.
“Everyone was laughing at this, and the next moment ten gunshots went over our heads. At this moment, I realised this is not your normal rugby camp; this is real.”
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