20 Springboks contracted by the SA Rugby Union (SARU) will take part in a training camp in Stellenbosch from October 20 to 24, the union announced on Sunday.
The camp forms part of the team’s preparations ahead of the Outgoing Tour next month.
“The Springboks are our first priority and the provinces have been very supportive, which we’re very thankful for,” SARU chief executive officer Jurie Roux said.
Sport24
The decision to invite the contracted players to the camp was taken in agreement with the provinces. This was done in line with a request from SARU to the provinces regarding the use of nationally contracted players in the Currie Cup.
“Following the agreement between SARU and the provinces, the contracted Springboks will not be available for the final round of pool matches as well as the Currie Cup play-off rounds.
“While it was impossible to put a blanket ban across all contracted Springboks to play for their provinces, the players utilised in the Rugby Championship were managed on an individual basis and released to play in the Currie Cup as the necessity arose.
“Most of them didn’t play any part in the Currie Cup but there were a couple of cases where players were released and that was done with the agreement and buy-in of all the provinces and SARU.”
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer said he was grateful to the provinces for allowing the release of the players for the Stellenbosch camp.
“This week will allow us to work intensely with the core of the squad for the tour in November, which will be a very tough outing with less than a year to go to the Rugby World Cup,” Meyer said.
“The provinces have been very helpful in managing our players and we’d like to thank them for that. This camp will not only provide us with an opportunity to work on conditioning and on-field matters, but also to work with injured players such as Siya Kolisi, Willem Alberts and Flip van der Merwe.”
The players and management would gather at the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport on October 20 and remain there until October 24.
The 36-man touring squad for the Rugby Championship will be announced on October 26 and they will get together in Johannesburg for a pre-departure camp on October 29 before leaving for Dublin on November 1.
The Springboks’ end-of-year tour itinerary includes Tests against Ireland in Dublin (November 8), England in London (November 15), Italy in Padova (November 22) and Wales in Cardiff (November 29).
“The match against Wales falls outside the IRB Test window so our overseas-based players will not be available for that match, which will provide a good test for our depth in South Africa and I’m excited to see what a number of our younger players can do in the Millennium Stadium,” said Meyer.
Four players, Damian de Allende, Cornal Hendricks, Victor Matfield and Jan Serfontein, were added to the list of contracted players during the international season.
All the non-contracted Springboks who featured in the Rugby Championship are available to their provinces for the rest of the Currie Cup.
The contracted Springboks are:
Willem Alberts, Marcell Coetzee, Damian de Allende, Jean de Villiers, Bismarck du Plessis, Jannie du Plessis, JJ Engelbrecht, Eben Etzebeth, Cornal Hendricks, Francois Hougaard, Siya Kolisi, Patrick Lambie, Willie le Roux, Victor Matfield, Tendai Mtawarira, Coenie Oosthuizen, Jan Serfontein, Adriaan Strauss, Flip van der Merwe and Duane Vermeulen.
5 @ MacroBok:
Hello MacroBok must be all ’bout the money, simples 😉
@ Bullscot:
Not going to complain about an extra Springbok game to be honest 😀
Why does Engelbrecht still have a contract and JDJ been put out to pastures.
With Pollard at 10 JDJ will excel at 13.
But Janneman is the incumbent and doing a sterling job of late.
@ Jeraldjay:
As far as I can recall JJ was given a contract in the beginning of the year. Although I agree he shouldn’t be there on merit, you surely can’t simply cancel a player’s contract.
I’m not sure if the players have a performance clause in their contracts. Such a clause should IMO focus on a player’s general (and specific) fitness levels etc. The players should have some protection and can’t just be “relieved” of their contracts if and when SARU decides to do it.
The same applies to Coenie Oosthuizen. He was injured for quite a while and I know he is nowhere near Springbok level at the moment. Obviously they can’t just cancel his contract.
@ charlesm:
Having said that, the wise thing should have been to release JJ to the Bulls. The same applies to De Allende who has had very limited game time recently. Pollard on the other hand should be managed well and we (the Boks) can’t afford an injury to him. He is obviously in HM’s long term plans and should be contracted by the Boks ASAP: (not because he will leave SA but) in order to manage him better from a national perspective
@ charlesm:
I agree, it has more to do with legal issues, this training camp could also be there to review each players contracts, with even injured players called up.
On the same note, Kolisi also very lucky to still be contracted by SARU.
Also agree on Pollard.
@ MacroBlouBul:
I guess we’ll never have a situation where everybody is happy and satisfied with all the players. Over time the form of the players will vary and I guess the contracts are rewards for players for having played well over an extended period of time and to secure their long(er) term commitment to the Boks
@ charlesm:
What people sometimes fail to recognize that rugby is a professional job, they deserve the same rights as anyone.
I have an interesting theory on JDJ, it will likely step on a lot of toes, but maybe he is just very un-likable in the springbok set-up?
Don’t get me wrong, he is playing the best rugby of his entire career (even in a watered down tournament like last year), but at least he had a good SR tournament this time around, but here is the thing I have picked up, has anyone listened to his post match interviews lately? The guy appears to be a polar opposite to JDV, the interview after the Lions game was almost embarrassing and completely lacked humility? I think that is the word… He is an odd character.
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