For South African rugby coaches and some of the country’s leading players, it’s the least-wonderful time of the year. The Springboks are coming off a five-week tour to Europe – and effectively a five-month Test season – and being asked to maintain their physical and mental standards across club tournaments such as the United Rugby Championship (URC) and European Champions Cup. The tug-o-war between club and country was laid to bare at the end of November, when the Boks’ last Test against Wales was staged on the same weekend as the sixth round of the URC.
Those who weren’t released to their local franchises and overseas clubs for the first Champions Cup pool match last week will be in action over the coming weekend. And it won’t get any easier for the coaches and players over the festive season. The present block of club fixtures stretches from 28 November to 30 January.
A couple of teams will have a break around Christmas, but those who don’t will compete for 10 straight weeks. That’s before accounting for the preceding five-Test tour to Europe, or the five-game block of URC matches before that. All the teams will enjoy a three-week break in February, and most of the contracted Boks will receive their mandatory annual leave – which can last up to eight weeks.
Read Full Article on Daily Maverick
[paywall]
As a result, local coaches will have to make do with what players they have at a potentially defining stage of the season, regardless of how their team is faring in the race to the URC playoffs. Knowing what lies ahead, the coaches may need to use the Boks extensively in this 10-week window, regardless of whether these individuals are fatigued or mentally burnt out. It’s an unforgiving schedule that threatens player welfare as well as the standard of performance across these major tournaments, and it must change sooner rather than later.
[/paywall]
