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Johannesburg - The 19 contracted Springbok frontliners will be available for at least three Currie Cup matches this year, in order to give them match practice before the end of the year tour.
But they will not necessarily make the tour and could be rested for the Grand Slam journey in November to ensure players are ready for next year’s Rugby World Cup.
Bok coach Peter de Villiers unleashed a storm last weekend by telling journalists that senior players had played 2 200 minutes, rather than the recommended 1 400 minutes for the year.
Yet on Tuesday, De Villiers moved to clarify his statements, especially as he had been questioned as to why senior players were still playing in this weekend’s game. But in doing this, he still had a moment to joke with journalists about the team selection for the end of year tour.
Asked how he was planning to rest players if he was obligated to take the “best team” overseas as per the tour agreements, De Villiers brought the house down with his explanation.
“I will take the best team overseas,” he started, “There are many of you in the media who said Victor isn’t the best anymore, John isn’t the best anymore and that Bryan isn’t the best anymore. I might just start listening to you and leave them at home.”
Seriously though, the three players mentioned are likely to miss out on the end of year tour but others like Bakkies Botha, Bismarck du Plessis, Beast Mtawarira and Heinrich Brüssow will all be available for selection again. De Villiers said when it came to his senior players, it was more a case of mental exhaustion than physical exhaustion that was hampering them.
“If you take the minutes that say Morne Steyn played and compare it to Victor, there is a difference because Victor’s workload is more,” De Villiers said.
“Sometimes those minutes don’t tell the entire story. What it does show us is that they will be mentally tired. These guys have been overseas three times already this year to play rugby and have been away from their family.”
“If it was up to them they would play rugby the whole year if their games were in South Africa. The mental exhaustion is sometimes much more apparent than the physical exhaustion. Their bodies are used to the physical exhaustion, but the mental exhaustion is the problem.
“The challenge for us is to get the balance right and to tell them to stop and go and spend some quality time with their loved ones.”
De Villiers said those Springboks who will make the tour will be released to play for their provinces in the last round of the Currie Cup, as well as the semi-finals and final to give them some match practice ahead of the end of year tour. This was essential, he believed, to ensure the players were in form when they went overseas. The Boks face a tough tour by playing all four home nations and ending the tour off with a Barbarians game.
“The guys who are going overseas can’t go overseas if we don’t give them match practice beforehand. The decisions we make have to be for the good of the team and any player we take overseas will have to have played three or four games,” De Villiers said.
There have been some suggestions this team could be led by Juan Smith, who has been in sensational form and has captained the Cheetahs in both the Currie Cup and Super 14 competitions.
