RUGBY’S TRY
‘We want to kick off by September’
● SA Rugby is developing strategies that seek to allow its players to return to action in August or September.
While the New Zealand government is expected to announce an easing of pandemic restrictions tomorrow, also revealing a date for when rugby and netball can resume, SA Rugby hopes players will be allowed to see combat in August.
Lockdown restrictions during the pandemic will allow contact sports like rugby to return only under Level 1.
SA Rugby presented its plans and contingencies to the government last week. Ministerial committees are expected to respond.
“That will take time. They did not indicate how long that might take,” said SA Rugby president Mark Alexander.
While the government ponders those plans and strategies, SA Rugby hopes the game’s international governing body, World Rugby, can provide a road map for Test rugby’s return. World Rugby’s annual meeting is on Tuesday.
With the July Test window almost certainly shut, World Rugby will need to consider whether the international matches that were scheduled for that month can be played in October.
The Springboks are due to play Georgia (once) and Scotland (twice) in July but those matches may have to be held over until October. It is also hoped the Rugby Championship, which is due to start in August, can run during its allocated slot, but that will depend on lockdown restrictions in the participating countries: SA, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina, who make up Sanzaar.
Should World Rugby agree on a shift for the July Test window to October, it will put unusual strain on the game’s top exponents. It will mean Sanzaar nations will play the Rugby Championship and their October Tests before embarking on tours of the northern hemisphere, as is customary in November.
Under that scenario player welfare will certainly become a much discussed topic.
“World Rugby won’t make those plans unless it is in full consultation with the players’ representative bodies. They can’t move forward without it,” said Alexander.
“It will probably mean that teams will have enlarged squads to cope with the demands of that playing schedule.”
It would be unprecedented for any national team to play as many Tests over a three-month stretch. Not even a Rugby World Cup is as demanding. In such tournaments, the teams who make the semifinals play seven matches in less than two months.
Should the revised Test window get the go-ahead, the Springboks face the prospect of going into the Rugby Championship underdone. They usually have three or four
Tests before engaging their foremost southern-hemisphere opposition but this year they may have to hit the deck running.
With their players set to return to the field a lot sooner, the All Blacks, and to a lesser degree the Wallabies, may steal the march on the world champions in fitness and general match sharpness.
What the Boks may lack in match sharp
It will probably mean that teams will have enlarged squads to cope with the demands of that playing schedule Mark Alexander
SA Rugby boss, on a tight Test schedule
ness will, however, be offset by the fact that they largely have intact the squad that won the Rugby World Cup last November. Those players are also familiar with the winning blueprint of director of rugby Rassie Erasmus and new coach Jacques Nienaber.
The Boks won’t go into combat completely cold. SA Rugby is desperate to have a competition, similar to the one earmarked in New Zealand, involving its Super Rugby and Pro14 teams. Alexander said that if play resumed in August there would be time to play a competition involving those teams as well as the Currie Cup.
Such competitions will have to be played under certain restrictions. They will be played behind closed doors and every precaution will have to be adhered to in order to ensure the safety of players, officials, as well as essential staff.
The challenge will be not only to create a safe environment at match venues, but also within the various forms of accommodation and modes of transport.
“There are various ideas being put forward but we may even consider charter flights to get the away team to and from the hosting city on match day. You could, for instance, have the Sharks fly from Durban to Cape Town on a Saturday morning and fly back home directly after the match,” said SA Rugby’s medical manager, Clint Readhead.
That would limit the players’ points of exposure as they come to grips with a changing environment that will require some getting used to.