World champs Springboks face season washout
Hurdles need to be cleared before SA can play in Rugby Championship
There is a strong prospect that the World Cup-winning Springboks’ 2020 season will be a written off as a washout without a single match being played.
SA Rugby CEO Jurie Roux has said several hurdles needed to be cleared before the Boks could travel to Australia to play in the Rugby Championship from November 7 to December 12.
Every effort will be made to get the Boks on the plane to Australia because the financial benefits of playing in the tournament will be huge for cashstrapped SA Rugby.
To compensate for the lack of game time in domestic rugby, the Boks may rely on overseasbased players who have already returned to action in Europe.
In a recent poll, fans said SA Rugby should prioritise a fullstrength Currie Cup rather than send a team to Australia.
Former Springbok captain Wynand Claassen believes SA should skip this year’s Rugby Championship and focus on the 2021 British and Irish Lions tour.
Claassen said travelling to
Australia to compete in the Rugby Championship would not be in the best interest of the Springboks and that SA Rugby should take a stand and withdraw from the competition, at least for this year.
There was talk at one stage that the Boks might opt to play in a European Eight nations tournament, but it would appear those plans have been shelved.
Reports from England suggest that Georgia will be included ahead of the Springboks in the Eight Nations tournament in November.
SA Rugby has welcomed the confirmation that the Rugby Championship would be held in 2020, but Roux cautioned that SA’s participation still had to be confirmed.
“We are pleased that the venue has now been confirmed and would like to commend Sanzaar and Rugby Australia for their work behind the scenes to make it possible,” Roux said.
“We are very eager to see the Springboks return to play, but there are still some hurdles to clear and we will be addressing those in the coming weeks.”
Roux said SA Rugby could not confirm participation while a ban on international sporting activity remained in place in SA and there were other high-performance and player wellness issues to consider.
He pointed out that New Zealand resumed match play three months ago while Australia had been in action for 10 weeks.
By contrast, SA players only resumed contact training two weeks ago.
Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber and director of rugby Rassie Erasmus will not want an undercooked Bok team to tarnish their hard-won reputation in Australia.
The Bok coach has indicated that he is planning to hold a camp but the date and details have not been decided.
Adding to SA’s problems is that the dates for the resumption of domestic competition remain unclear.
A leaked fixture list has suggested that SA Rugby will resume rugby with a Super Heroes double header at Loftus Versfeld, with the Lions playing the Stormers and the Bulls facing the Sharks.
After the Super Heroes event, the Currie Cup will kick off, with October 10 pencilled in as a possible start for the SA domestic competition.
Nienaber has said he would not let the Boks travel to Australia if they were undercooked and he targeted at least five or six matches to get the players into shape.
The Bok coach has made it clear he won’t risk his team’s reputation if they are not properly prepared to face opposition who have had the benefit of better preparation.
But financial issues may win the day.
Roux has said Boks would probably be required to play in the Championship because of financial implications and the income they would generate from television rights.