Mzansi Super League set to continue
FORMER Springbok World Cup-winning coach Jake White was confirmed as the new Bulls director of rugby yesterday, taking over from Alan Zondagh, who vacated the post in February.
White joins the Pretoria-based organisation from Japan Top League club Toyota Verblitz and will assume the position with immediate effect until the end of the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.
Reports linking White to the former three-time Super Rugby champions had been circulating for weeks before the Bulls made the announcement. The role becomes White’s second South African franchise top job – after holding the same position at the Sharks in 2014.
The shareholders, Remgro, Patrice Motsepe and the BBRU [Blue Bulls Rugby Union], together with the staff, have an amazing ambition to not only take the Bulls back to number one, but also re-invent and re-mould the face of rugby in this country.”
It is understood that White will not be hands on with coaching but will drive the overall direction of the franchise and union, while current head coach Pote Human will continue the role he’s held since last year.
Under Human, the Bulls made the Super Rugby quarterfinals in 2019 and began 2020 in horrid fashion, losing five from their opening six games so far this season.
His predecessor, Zondagh, was in 2018 mandated to reduce the Bulls’ professional contracts from 200 to about 100 players, which saw a slew of young talented players leave their stable. White will be required to build the talent base back up with some canny acquisitions following the loss of World Cup stars Handre Pollard, Lood de Jager and RG Snyman, to name a few.
Bulls CEO Alfonso Meyer said: His credentials speak for [themselves] and we know his contributions are only going to improve our rugby across the board.
What do you think?Thoughts?Any interest?
CRICKET South Africa’s embattled showpiece tournament the Mzansi Super League looks set to continue for at least another season, but it could be shortened in line with the rest of the domestic franchise tournaments for 2020-21 which was released yesterday.
There was much speculation that the MSL, which was the only domestic competition to the concluded this season due to the coronavirus pandemic, was set to be cancelled due to the T20 competition being unable to secure a headline sponsor and sell off its television rights for the two seasons it’s been running.
CSA have incurred the majority of the tournament’s running costs, which has amounted to millions of rands.
With the governing body looking to drastically reduce costs going forward, the MSL was potentially on its last legs. However, CSA primarily maintained the franchise status quo yesterday by opting to continue with the current six franchise system for the first-class and 50-over competitions.
The initial plan was to switch over to a 12-team provincial union structure, but after consultation with the South African Cricketers’ Association – who legally challenged this proposed motion – there will no drastic changes with no other T20 domestic franchise tournament scheduled either.
Instead, CSA have only implemented formulaic changes with teams in both the first-class and 50-over competitions being grouped in sets of three each. Teams will play home and away matches against each of the sides in their group, for a total of four matches, and only one match against the three teams in the other group, amounting
SOUTH Africa Under-23 talisman Teboho Mokoena has described the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics as a “huge disappointment” but he admitted that it was important to put the health of everyone first.
The coronavirus outbreak has raged around the world this year, infecting nearly 380 000 people and wiping out the international sporting calendar.
In one of the ways to reduce its spread, there has been a suspension of large gatherings. Such that in South Africa as from tonight April 16, there will be a national lockdown in attempts to contain the spread of the fatal disease in the country. The deadly virus has seen the cancellation or postponement of major events, such that the Games which were set to be hosted in Japan between July and August have since been rescheduled for 2021.
The SA U23 team, together with Egypt and Ivory Coast’s U23s, were the to seven matches for the season.
Previously each of the six franchises played both home and away matches in the league phase (10 games) before a potential semi-final and final.
“It is important that we announce the new structures timeously so that all franchises and provinces have a clear picture of the road ahead to advise the contracting of their players,” said CSA acting chief executive Dr Jacques Faul.
“I would like to thank all our stakeholders for buying into the new structures.”
The new structure is expected to reduce CSA’s expenses exponentially, particularly in regards to accommodation and travel costs for the six franchises. Currently only the 50-over competition is sponsored, while the four-day first-class tournament has not had a sponsor for two years.
The much-debated second-tier structure will also remain in place, although major structural changes will be implemented. The provincial teams remain divided into two groups of eight and seven teams, and will play a single round of fixtures.
However, they will feature in a new 40-over knockout competition which will include the 15 provinces and the SA nder-19 team that replaces the previous one-day competition.
The inclusion of the SA U19 team is a vital shift after the dismal performance of the Junior Proteas at the ICC World Cup held on home soil earlier this year.
Part of the problems identified was that the SA U19 team, unlike many of their contemporaries at these global tournaments had precious little “senior cricket” experience with the majority of the team made up of young cricketers who had only just finished playing schoolboy cricket. three teams that were supposed to be Africa’s flag bearers at the Olympics after finishing third, first and second at the 2018 U23 Africa Cup of Nations respectively.
“I am disappointed, but health should always come first. It’s a major blow, not only for soccer but for all sporting codes, because the deadly virus is spreading and seemingly uncontrollable at the moment. So, there’s nothing we can do but think about the health of everyone,” Mokoena said.
By the time the Olympics commence next year, Mokoena would be 24 years of age. That would mean he can only be selected for SA’s squad as one of the three overage players due to tournament restrictions.
“It’s really going to be tough to break into the team. But it’s really up to the coach to make a decision on the final squad,” said Mokoena.