adminJOHANNESBURG. — South Africa’s national director of rugby Rassie Erasmus and Springbok coach Jacque Nienaber told an online press conference on Monday the players are eager to play in the Castle Lager Championship.
But, when they listed the obstacles that stand in the way, the chances of it happening seemed slim.
For a start, right now a decision to play is not possible as international competition is still prohibited.
“But that is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what is needed in order for the Boks to be ready to fly out for the six-week tournament scheduled for November and early December.
“Firstly, international sporting participation for South African teams is yet to be given the green light, so that is out of our hands at the moment. We are waiting for guidance from the government on that,” said Nienaber.
“Secondly, we need to find out more about the isolation period we have to go through when we get to Australia if we do go. What will we be allowed to do and what won’t we be allowed to do? Yes, Australia is not as strict as New Zealand, but we need details, like what recovery modalities will be allowed.
“Thirdly, there’s a big issue involving the availability of overseas-based players. Regulation 9 has been invoked by World Rugby, declaring an international window for that period, but there has been push back from the English clubs, who are playing their semifinals and final during the period we would be isolating in Australia.”
Erasmus stressed that negotiations and assessments around the financial impact of not going were in the hands of the national rugby union chief executives, but that on a rugby level there are massive challenges that will need to be met and overcome in order for Championship participation to be possible.— Supersport.com.
Online Reporter