Cape Town — Could the Springboks be in danger of being undercooked for the Rugby Championship, and ultimately the Rugby World Cup?
That became a distinct possibility after the two remaining South African franchises were knocked out of the Champions Cup in Europe last weekend.
The Stormers went down 42-17 to Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park in England in their quarter-final, while the Sharks were dispatched 54-20 by the powerful Toulouse at Stade Ernest Wallon in France.
The Bulls had gone down 33-9 to the same Toulouse in their last-16 clash a week earlier, so now the leading Boks only have the United Rugby Championship (URC) games to prepare for the international season.
And apart from the second-placed Stormers — who have already won the SA Shield and qualified for the Champions Cup, and are now pushing for a home semi-final — it is not a sure bet that the Bulls and Sharks are even going to reach the URC play-offs.
According to an official URC graphic released on Thursday, the seventh-placed Bulls are on 43 points and need seven more from the remaining matches against Zebre and a Leinster second-string side to secure a quarter-final spot, and Jake White’s team would want the 10-point maximum to claim a top-seven finish and Champions Cup qualification.
The Sharks are eighth with 41 points, and need nine more against Benetton and Munster to reach the quarters – and also need a top-seven placing for Champions Cup requirements.
A worst-case scenario could see both the Bulls and Sharks miss out, which would see their URC season end next weekend – a full two-and-a-half months before the Boks’ Rugby Championship opener against Australia on July 8 at Loftus Versfeld.
But whatever happens, Bok assistant coach Mzwandile Stick is confident that the leading players will have enough game-time before the Wallaby Test.
“I always try to look for the positives, and we would have loved to see them going all the way to the finals – especially teams like the Stormers, who have been playing very well in South Africa,” Stick told IOL Sport on the sidelines of the launch of the SA Rugby Academy programme – essentially the Junior Boks’ build-up to their World Cup – at the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport on Wednesday night.
“It would have been nice to see them in the final, but on the other side, we know we will probably get more time to work with those boys (Boks). The positives for us are that there are a lot of things we can learn from what they are doing at their franchises.
“When they travel with the franchise, they know how to travel, they know the conditions – it’s not like back in the day when we used to play in the southern hemisphere, and then whenever we go up north, we would see guys training with three pairs of socks on.
“Now we are also starting to get used to and adapt to the conditions, as they are playing more often in those conditions, instead of us just talking in South Africa.
“There is still URC and there’s Currie Cup, and there’s no doubt that most of those players will be game-fit. It’s not in our hands, so if a team goes out early, we as the Springboks must pick up where the franchises left off.
“It’s quite a while away to the first Test on July 8, but we’ve also got a conditioning camp in Pretoria for about three weeks. Actually, we are going to do two camps in May (as well) for three days (each), and we will have at least three weeks to work with them before we play our first game against Australia.
“So, there are no excuses from our side. Whatever happens at franchise level doesn’t give us a right to have any excuses. We knew that this was going to be the challenge, and it’s something that’s happened before, where sometimes we would get the players for a month before the first game.
“We will make sure that we keep on improving their conditioning, which is something that we’ve done well on the three-week camp that we had (in Cape Town recently).
“We will be well prepared, whatever happens at franchise level. We’ve got the Rugby Championship, and then three warm-up games against Argentina, Wales and the All Blacks. So, there are no excuses.”
Stick addressed the 41-strong SA Rugby Academy squad, which includes the likes of Stormers star Suleiman Hartzenberg and Western Province scrumhalf Imad Khan, and said that they must take full advantage of the opportunity to develop at the highest level.
“They must not take it for granted, as there are a lot of youngsters who would want these opportunities. This is just the beginning for them, as it won’t be easy and will only get tougher,” the former Blitzbok captain said.
“In the current Bok squad, guys like Salmaan Moerat, Manie Libbok, Damian Willemse all came through this system, and I also had a taste of working with some of them in the SA ‘A’ team, whom I have massive respect for.
“Guys like Suleiman Hartzenberg, what he’s doing and seeing a youngster maturing like that at the age of 19, some of the boys here can learn a lot from those guys.
“What I said to them is that they have the potential, but what will make them special and to help them become Springboks is the hard work and discipline.
“I know that we are going to meet some of them in the future (at the Boks), and that was my same message last year – and within a year, I got to work with Henco van Wyk, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu …
“My advice to them is that in the next 15 years of their careers, they must make a lot of sacrifices and give themselves the best opportunity to make it.”
IOL Sport