Rugby

SARU killing Golden Goose?

2010-02-28 21:03
Email | Print
A concerned Peter de Villiers. (Gallo Images)
Johannesburg - The SA Rugby Union (SARU) may be killing the Goose that lays the golden egg - against scientific advice and proven experience that helped Jake White's team to win the 2007 World Cup.

It is believed that SARU have agreed to an extra Test match against Wales, bringing the number of Tests in 2010 to 14 plus the non-cap "Super Test" against the British Barbarians.

It is expected that the acceptance of the Wales Test will be officially announced by SARU this week, according to Sport24 - with the controlling body being the only winners financially.

With the Wales Test added the Boks will therefore play seven Test matches in seven weeks (eight Saturdays) in June and July and five more in four weeks in Britain.

Those seven Tests in June and July include two against New Zealand, one against Australia, one against France, two against Italy, plus the Test against Wales.

The Springboks will play Wales in Cardiff on June 5 and France in Cape Town the following Saturday.

What's more, the Wales Test comes only a week after the Super 14 final - and if any South African side does play in that final the young hopefuls - players such as Joe Pietersen, Brok Harris, Deon Stegmann and Gerhard van den Heever - will probably have to be overlooked because of the "fatigue factor."

Surely the country's best team cannot be fielded every game? Not to mention the awarding of undeserved caps.

Little heed has been taken at the top level of what sports scientist Professor Tim Noakes has to say about over-playing the Boks. Or of the way that Jake White had to "sacrifice" Test wins in order to win the World Cup.

With 15 internationals the only way to prevent or control that fatigue factor, is by awarding caps to second-stringers in a travesty of all that pride in the Springbok blazer has stood for in its proud history.

What will opponents say about the weakened teams bound to be sent abroad, not to mention the sponsors of the South African team? And will there be support in South Africa for home games when an also-ran team is selected?

Springbok coach Peter de Villiers must be a perplexed man - and make no mistake, he will be the one who unfairly bears the brunt of weakened teams.

De Villiers was uncertain about the wisdom of the Grand Slam tour about which he was obviously not consulted, according to his interview with the Cape Times on February 2.

"The timing of this Grand Slam tour isn't right for me," he said to the Cape Times.

"I need to really sit down and work out when exactly we want to do the conditioning with the guys ahead of the 2011 season. From there we will know what we want to do and how we are going to approach the next two international seasons."

De Villiers then said: "I haven't spoken to the bosses yet about the Grand Slam tour, so I don't know how they see it. I haven't spoken to them or the players."

The Springbok management team faces a difficult task to identify a rest period for the top Springboks to set them up for the run in to the World Cup in New Zealand in 2011.

Sitting out either the 2010 Currie Cup or the end of year tour were two of the possible rest periods that are being looked at by the Bok management.

That has now been complicated.

Springboks’ programme for 2010:


5 June: v Wales (Cardiff)
12 June: v France (Cape Town)
19 June: v Italy (Witbank)
26 June: v Italy (East London)
10 July: v New Zealand (Auckland)
17 July: v New Zealand (Wellington)
24 July: v Australia (Brisbane)
21 August: v New Zealand (Johannesburg)
28 August: v Australia (Pretoria)
4 September: v Australia (Bloemfontein)
6 November: v Ireland (Dublin)
13 November: v Wales (Cardiff)
20 November: v Scotland (Edinburgh)
27 November: v England (London)
4 December: v Barbarians (London)

 

Comment on this story
35 comments
Add your comment
Comment 0 characters remaining
 
 
Live Video Streaming
Video Highlights
Sport Talk
  • Rugby season is up and running
    The rugby year in New Zealand is up and running with the annual party that is the Wellington Sevens.
  • Live Scoring by SuperSport

    Sonny Bill Williams gets punched in the face

    The beautiful girls of the CT Tens

    Doug Mallett's amazing crossbar kick

     Girls of the Cape Town Tens

    It wasn't all rugby at the Cape Town Tens...

     Sport24 Super Rugby challenge

    Think you're smarter than Sport24 finest brains?

    Featured Blog

    The question is not how popular Heyneke Meyer is outside 'Bullsland'. The question is: How popular is non-Bulls territory with the coach, asks blogger TruVanPunt.

    Latest blogs
    Sonny Bill Bumba-ye!
    2012/02/07 11:52:14 PM
    Vote

    The best way to solve the Southern Kings entry poser from next year in Super Rugby is ...

    Sign up and WIN

    Twitter Follow Sport24 on Twitter

    Newsletters Sign up for Sport24's Morning Glory newsletter

    Blogs Yes your opinion counts. Get it out there

    WIN Enter and win with Sport24!

    Mobile Sport24 on your mobile phone - WAP, alerts, downloads, services

    BlackBerry Stay in the loop on your BlackBerry

    iPhone Latest Sport24 news on your iPhone

    Facebook "Like" Sport24's Facebook page

    TV schedule Plan your couch time with our searchable sport TV guide

    RSS Feeds Sport news delivered really simply.

     
    There are new stories on the homepage. Click here to see them.