Springbok coach Peter de Villiers and Andy Marinos have pulled a rabbit out of a hat at a recent meeting with all the Super Rugby coaches, when it was decided that the coach will have access to his players during the 6 month tournament.
Frans Ludeke, Naka Drotske, John Mitchell, John Plumtree and Allister Coetzee met with the coach and the manager of national teams to discuss player conditioning in a year that is filled to the bring with rugby.
To give you an idea, Super Rugby kicks off in 3 weeks, where after the Tri Nations begins a mere 2 weeks after the final on 9 July. The Tri Nations then concludes on 27 August, only 2 weeks ahead of the biggest tournament in International rugby.
The springboks will name their World Cup squad on August 22.
I think a lot is going to depend on what, exactly, is meant by the term “access”
The rugby schedule this year is just crazy. Let’s hope the Sharks are the least affected
@robdylan (Comment 1) :
My understanding of this is to have the doctors have a look at them, coz somewhere it is said that this access is dependant on tour patterns of the teams.
Who knows?
i think the bok management want to make sure the players aren’t getting overused or poorly conditioned. one player that comes to mind is juan smith. the cheetahs tend to run the guy into the ground. more his fault than theirs as he tries to win every game on his own, cos he knows his team aren’t able to.
Peter de Villiers better keep his hands off the Sharks, we have a professional union here!
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 3) :
@try time (Comment 4) :
I agree with both of thos comments but to me that just gives SARU an excuse to pull the players when they want to.
expect some very public haggling midway through the competition.
The less said about Snor the better…especially if I’m the one saying it!
@klempie (Comment 7) :
@Jarson (AddicteD) (Comment 8) :
@klempie (Comment 9) :