Stephen Nell
Cape Town – “It’s great to be in Cape Town!”
That’s not exactly news for a lot of people, but coming from the Blue Bulls’ Springbok flyhalf Morné Steyn ahead of an important Currie Cup match against Griquas, it certainly is.
The reason that Steyn was not in Pretoria on Monday is because all the contracted Springboks were tested at the Sports Science Institute in Newlands.
While the South African Rugby Union (SARU) did not want to facilitate media interviews or allow photographs to be taken, there were updates from players on Twitter.
Pierre Spies, for example, dropped the news that Beast Mtawarira managed squats of 245kg.
It remains to be seen whether Western Province tighthead prop Brok Harris will be nervous when he squares up to Mtawarira in the scrums on Saturday.
SARU communications boss Andy Colquhoun told Sport24 that all the contracted Boks would be tested.
The Bok coaching staff would then be able to make informed decisions about how the players should be managed going ahead.
The tests come in the wake of the conditioning programme that the players were put on following the Tri-Nations. They will return to their provinces on Tuesday afternoon and can be considered for the weekend’s Currie Cup games.
The unions adapted their training schedules, with neither WP not the Bulls on the training field on Monday.
With the tests taking place in Cape Town, WP may well benefit because their Boks can head off to their first training session of the week straight away on Tuesday afternoon.
“I’d say we’re better off with the tests taking place in the Cape. It’s not a problem,” said WP coach Allister Coetzee.
“They are contracted Springboks and we always knew they’d be available for this weekend’s games.”
The contracted Boks started training with the rest of the players last week and therefore it’s not a major disruption.
Free State Cheetahs flank Juan Smith, prop CJ van der Linde and flank Heinrich Brüssow were also invited for the tests.
Cape Town – “It’s great to be in Cape Town!”
That’s not exactly news for a lot of people, but coming from the Blue Bulls’ Springbok flyhalf Morné Steyn ahead of an important Currie Cup match against Griquas, it certainly is.
The reason that Steyn was not in Pretoria on Monday is because all the contracted Springboks were tested at the Sports Science Institute in Newlands.
While the South African Rugby Union (SARU) did not want to facilitate media interviews or allow photographs to be taken, there were updates from players on Twitter.
Pierre Spies, for example, dropped the news that Beast Mtawarira managed squats of 245kg.
It remains to be seen whether Western Province tighthead prop Brok Harris will be nervous when he squares up to Mtawarira in the scrums on Saturday.
SARU communications boss Andy Colquhoun told Sport24 that all the contracted Boks would be tested.
The Bok coaching staff would then be able to make informed decisions about how the players should be managed going ahead.
The tests come in the wake of the conditioning programme that the players were put on following the Tri-Nations. They will return to their provinces on Tuesday afternoon and can be considered for the weekend’s Currie Cup games.
The unions adapted their training schedules, with neither WP not the Bulls on the training field on Monday.
With the tests taking place in Cape Town, WP may well benefit because their Boks can head off to their first training session of the week straight away on Tuesday afternoon.
“I’d say we’re better off with the tests taking place in the Cape. It’s not a problem,” said WP coach Allister Coetzee.
“They are contracted Springboks and we always knew they’d be available for this weekend’s games.”
The contracted Boks started training with the rest of the players last week and therefore it’s not a major disruption.
Free State Cheetahs flank Juan Smith, prop CJ van der Linde and flank Heinrich Brüssow were also invited for the tests.