Australian domestic tourney shows SA rugby an alternative

SA rugby returns this weekend with a Super Saturday doubleheader at Loftus — and when it does, there will be just six weeks to the scheduled start of the Rugby Championship in Australia.

The Springbok participation in the event is still in the balance. The readiness of the players for international rugby after the long lockdown is the understandable key concern, and in that regard this weekend provided further evidence that there is an alternative that could have a positive long-term payoff for SA rugby.

The quality of the Domestic AU final between the Brumbies and the Reds was light years better than anything we saw in the early stages of their season. One of the messages to heed was surely the importance of having game mileage in the tank before players can produce their best rugby.

The fact that it was played at full strength for the duration also enabled the AU to produce a new raft of stars for new Wallaby coach Dave Rennie to choose from, not the least of them being 20-year-old Noah Lolesio, whose game management and temperament was hugely influential in the 28-23 Brumbies win at the Gio Stadium.

The Super Rugby and Currie Cup competitions that will be played one after the other from October to January also need to be played at full strength if there is to be maximum benefit.

That won’t happen if the Boks go to Australia for the Championship and, given the likelihood that an extended squad would be needed, the local competitions could end up being watered down.

The success of the AU, and of the Aotearoa that preceded it and also produced a number of new star players, does provide SA rugby with proof that there could be positives to be derived from not going to Australia.

Anyone who doubts the SA concerns about readiness for international rugby seven weeks from now are valid ones, should have been at Newlands at the start of this past rugby weekend for a Stormers internal practice match.

It was keenly competitive and there was no lack of physicality. Stormers coach John Dobson would have been pleased with the excellent defensive effort of both sides in what was effectively a 60-minute match played over three 20-minute chukkas.

Dobson was honest enough to admit afterwards though that with the exception of Steven Kitshoff, a ready advert for anyone arguing in favour of the physical benefits of doing home DIY (that’s what the prop did during lockdown), his Springboks are way short of where they would need to be.

And that is an understatement. It is not a criticism, because the lockdown was a unique situation, and there were some players who went into the hiatus injured. For them, the priorityshould surely just be to ease themselves back onto the playing field.

Fortunately, all the players at Newlands got through the return to contact exercise with their health intact. But let’s not mince words: some of the key Stormers players looked distinctly puffed before having to be replaced.

The All Black players have been playing since June — they are sharp and ready. For the South Africans, that is not the case and neither does six weeks equate to six matches for them to get conditioned.

Saturday’s double-header featuring the four SA Super Rugby franchises will be followed by what is effectively a Springbok trial the following week.

The need to quarantine on arrival in Australia will mean they have to leave pretty close to the middle of October, which means many players will have only two games behind them, not the minimum six Bok coach Jacques Nienaber spoke about as the bare minimum.

Of course, there is an economic imperative that has to be kept in mind.

But where would it leave the Boks if they ended up reliving the 57-0 nightmare of 2017? —