Smaller squads will be SA’s burden
We just have to work smarter and manage player welfare better Mark Alexander
SA Rugby Union president
● Three SA teams have qualified to play in the Champions Cup next year but already there are concerns about their battle readiness for Europe’s most lucrative and prestigious club competition.
The €1m (R16.8m) windfall for the winning team perhaps explains the clamour for places via the United Rugby Championship (URC) at European rugby’s top table — but as things stand, SA teams will be spread thin next season.
SA teams have been operating with smaller squads in the wake of industry cutbacks. Most squads operate with about 45 players and resources are already stretched across the URC and the Currie Cup.
SA Rugby Union president Mark Alexander, however, does not share concerns that the current squad sizes won’t be fit for purpose next year. “I think there is enough depth already,” he said.
“See how many of our international players are coming home. In other countries, like England, squads are being cut down. We just have to work smarter and manage player welfare better.”
Those comments don’t tally with the reality on the ground. Stormers coach John Dobson sounded the alarm after his team’s tussle with what was effectively Leinster’s B team last weekend. “I don’t think with a squad of 50 players we have the resources and ability to compete in three senior competitions at the same time,” he said.
“It is not good for our players to be committed over so many fronts. We need to be completely committed to both the URC and the Champions Cup. We are redlining it a bit now and I can’t see us carrying on like this.”
Tighter at the Stormers
Of course the Stormers are a little more hamstrung than, say, the Bulls or the Sharks, who can maximise their player budgets.
Leinster coach Leo Cullen told the Sunday Times he had used 55 players by the time his team travelled to SA last month. For him it is about the careful management of resources and not just haphazard rotation of players.
There is a reason Leinster have won the Champions Cup four times and the Pro Rugby competition (forerunner to the URC) eight times. He said for every game Leinster has players that will be “keen and hungry to go”.
“That is the important piece, whether that is the experienced guys or the younger guys,” explained Cullen.
“You would have seen during the Six Nations there is huge demand on the international players. The sequence of play-off games is greater than it has ever been this year. We played home and away in the last 16 in Europe.
“If you want to go deep in the tournament you have to be clever about how you manage the group. Also, in the URC we have quarterfinal, semifinal and final and that is the first time we’ve had that dynamic.”
Alexander appears to have resigned himself to the financial constraints the local game finds itself in. “If you talk Leinster and Munster you are talking about the biggest clubs in the world with huge funding behind them.
“One has to be realistic. We are in SA. We are competing against the pound and the yen. The unions, through Sareo (South African Rugby Employers Organisation), decide this.”