World champions South Africa are “desperate” to play in the Rugby Championship this year, but there remain a number of hurdles before they will commit to the competition, according to director of rugby Rassie Erasmus.
The Southern Hemisphere competition will be staged in Australia from Nov 7 to Dec 12, but the defending champion Springboks face being woefully under-prepared, which Erasmus believes could make participation dangerous for the players.
“We desperately want to play, it will be terrible to go a year without the Springboks playing,” Erasmus said in a virtual news conference yesterday.
“But we have had one of the toughest lockdowns in the world and our players were indoors for months.
“In other countries players could train or at least go to the park to exercise, we did not have that.
“So if you look at the science, we have to get five or six matches into the players for their own welfare and to make it safe for them, and we are working out how to do that. Players probably need 500 minutes (of game-time) to be safe.”
South Africa’s domestic competition will only start on Oct. 10 with players having been largely inactive since March.
Erasmus reveals the Boks are also facing resistance from English clubs over the release of players in time for the start of the Rugby Championship.
“We would want to arrive in Australia at the same time, as you have to quarantine for two weeks, which is why you need to take a massive squad because if you get injuries, you can’t just bring someone new in,” he said.
Erasmus confirmed that from a team management point of view, they would want to confirm participation by Oct 10 at the latest.
“We want to go, we know we have to go (from a financial point of view), we are just working out how we make it possible to go,” he added.
Meanwhile, Australia’s newly appointed forwards coach Geoff Parling has torn up the Wallabies’ lineout playbook to implement his own system after noting low standards with the set piece during the Super Rugby AU championship.
Former England and British Lions lock Parling, who joined Dave Rennie’s staff less than two weeks ago, said he had been given licence by the New Zealander to make his mark on the Wallabies’ lineout.
“I’m implementing a new system that lads have to get up to speed with and the expectation going into this week is there will be a bit of pressure there to start executing and get things right,” Parling told reporters during a video call on Monday.
“We’ve only been together for four days of actual training so far, so it’s just about getting our basics and principles right.
“I’d appreciate during the (Super Rugby AU) season, probably some of the standards were low.
“But on the flip side you could probably say that some of the defensive work was excellent, so it works both ways.”
Parling, who played for the British and Irish Lions on their triumphant 2013 tour of Australia, has little time to get things right for the season opener against the All Blacks in Wellington on Oct 11.
It will be Australia’s first Test since their quarter-final exit from the Rugby World Cup in Japan last year.
Parling will also need to do without hooker Tolu Latu and the World Cup second row of Rory Arnold and Izack Rodda, who underpinned a solid lineout in Japan.
The overseas-based trio were not included in Rennie’s squad for the opening two Bledisloe Cup tests against New Zealand but could return for the Rugby Championship.
New Zealand PM says All Blacks won’t have quarantine leave pass
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has poured cold water on the All Blacks’ hopes of avoiding Christmas in quarantine after the Rugby Championship, saying the team would be “uncomfortable” with being given special treatment.
The All Blacks will need to quarantine for 14 days when they return to New Zealand as part of Covid-19 protocols following their final match of the Rugby Championship on Dec 12 against Australia in Sydney.
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) have complained that tournament organisers backflipped on an agreement that the All Blacks would finish a week earlier.
NZR said they were working on solutions to the All Blacks’ dilemma but Ardern offered no government help yesterday.
“There are others who won’t want to be stuck in quarantine over Christmas, but that’s just the reality of our process,” Ardern told New Zealand radio station Newstalk ZB.
“I don’t think (the All Blacks) would feel that comfortable with us creating a different regime for them, because it exists for the same reason.”
Ardern held out some hope that travel restrictions between Australia and New Zealand might be lifted before the end of the year in an interview with state broadcaster TVNZ.
Plans for a travel ‘bubble’ between Australia and New Zealand have been discussed for months, but they were disrupted after a resurgence of Covid-19 in Melbourne, Australia, followed by an outbreak in Auckland.
Australia’s New Zealander coach Dave Rennie expressed sympathy for the All Blacks on Sunday.
“I know there is talk of a bubble opening up between New South Wales and New Zealand,” he said.
“If that comes in before Christmas happens then it will be a non-issue and they will be able to go straight home to their families and that’s what we want.”
The World Cup-winning South African rugby team.
