An administrative blunder by the South African Rugby Union, rather than injury, might turn out to be the biggest stumbling block in the way of Frans Steyn’s return to the Springbok team.
rugby365
We can reveal that SARU have failed to file, on time, the clearance request required by the FFR (Fédération Française de Rugby) for the release of players to their national unions for Test duty.
And to add insult to injury, Steyn’s French club, Racing Metro, have confirmed that Steyn has, in fact, suffered a quad muscle injury that will sideline him from training until next Wednesday.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Racing confirmed that Steyn would not feature for the ‘The Sky and Whites’ in their Top 14 opener against Brive at Stade Amédée-Domenech on Friday.
“Francois Steyn, Andrea Masi, Karim Ghezal and Scott Zimmerman are all still recovering from their injuries,” read the club’s statement. “After medical examinations it was decided that none of them are able to play [this week] and they were not named in the squad chosen by Pierre Berbizier.”
Steyn suffered a quad injury, and not an ankle injury as previously reported in the media, in a pre-season friendly last Friday.
He is allowed to start training next Wednesday only and would then, obviously, be required to pass a fitness test if the Boks still want him to feature against the All Blacks in Soweto next Saturday.
However, an even bigger problem for Steyn, and the Boks, could turn out to be the administrative bungle by SARU officials, who failed to submit the clearance request on time.
An FFR source confirmed that the clearance request must be submitted 14 days in advance… But SARU filed the documentation this week only.
Should the FFR play hardball and insist on the 14-day clearance – rather than release Steyn on short notice – he will be released only for the two Tri-Nations Tests against the Wallabies – in Pretoria on August 28 and Bloemfontein a week later.
This development follows a statement issued from the Bok camp on Wednesday, which said they were still awaiting clarity on the extent of Steyn’s injury.
Steyn, who was included in the Springbok training group of 29 announced last Sunday, underwent a scan in Paris this week, after picking up an injury in a pre-season match last Friday.
The Springbok training squad assembled in Johannesburg on Tuesday, to begin preparations for the home leg of the Tri-Nations – the Boks, of course, having suffered three big losses in New Zealand and Australia last month.
A final squad of 24 – which will then be trimmed to 22 to face the All Blacks – is expected to be confirmed at the conclusion of the camp on Friday.
Well, well, well…. I supose the only question which remains is what SARU WILL cock up next….
A fish rots from the head…
gbs @ 1
😀
administrative blunder …. hmmmm, so can we assume its the SAME person/s that made the SAME blunder with butch james’ release a while ago?
blouste @ 2
😀 and a bull rots from his arse, lol
3@ Ashley:
Flok tjom, daai ouens van SARU sit en slaap daar in die High Performance Centre langs Nuweland….. vas aan die wakker….. simpel lot!
@ grootblousmile:
@ Ashley:
Die probleem is daai ouens is gestasioneer in SLAAPSTAD…
Miskien is ek te hard op SARU…. miskien het Snorrie eers Sondag vir SARU gesê hy wil vir Fransie betrek, na dit voorheen duidelik was Frans was uit die prentjie – na die Wallis Toets in Junie….
gbs, bdb @ 5, 6
nou waa’voo’ al die provinsialisme? 😉
8@ Ashley:
Hoe so??
Waa’s ekke nou weer Provinsialisties as ek sê SARU sit en dut?
gbs @ 7
weet nie, gbs, kan wel moontlik wees
probleem is net
dieselfde “blunder” was nie so lank gelede nie
met butch james ook gemaak?
sooooooooooooo
selfde ou/ens
selfde fout
so kort op mekaar?
..
hmmmmmmmmm,
iemand
slaap
êrens!!
Dit smaak my die ligte is aan daar by HQ, maar niemand is in die kanottr nie.
die wiel draai maar die rot is lankal dood.
As die kollektiewe IQ 50 slaan by HQ moet hulle verkoop.
They are robbing some village of their idiot.
Shouldn’t the question rather be asked why his club is so intent on playing hard ball enforcing the IRB regulation 9.23 standing in the way of a player representing his country?
Frans was named in the Bok squad on the 8th of August, the game against the All Blacks is the 21st, exactly 14 days later.
Frans is currently injured and cannot play for his club this weekend (already confirmed) and is hoped to be ready by next weekend (when we play the All Blacks) so what is the real issue here?
Also why stall the results of the scans which SA Rugby will only receive today (according to a media release) for an injury sustained last week Friday already?
Peter de Villiers has maintained in recent weeks (his Bokzine column) that Frans has always been in their plans, but there are issues with his club that needs to be resolved. He was generally labelled an idiot and liar and avoiding the issue.
Seems after all there is indeed a real issue with his club, or Frans himself or his agent…
After all, I can see how a club will want to ‘protect’ their 750 000 Euro investment from missing a potential 5 league games in the French competition…
This is true Morne and it also needs to be mentioned that it is still early in the season for them so for him to miss a few games in the beginning of the season should not be a crisis?
12@ Morné:
Pismier…. you could very well be right…
I did not write the Article as you’ll note but there is a definate hamper somewhere between Fransie (and his immediate surroundings) and the Bokke…. which is not good for the Bokke or Fransie for that matter.
It needs to be sorted out and SARU needs to play a leading role here, by getting notices out in time and by negotiating very well with Racing Metro….
@ grootblousmile:
Blouste, there is definately an issue and I cannot help get it out of my head that the main issue is Fransie’s agent, and the fact that Metro pays Frans 750 000 Euro’s a year for his services…
The club loses quite a bit if Frans is called up to the Boks, it is not in their best interests and that much is obvious.
Another agent told me today Frans is set to miss 5 games if called up to the Boks.
Remember Fransie was signed when PDV’s overseas policy was much stricter or more strictly applied than what is the case now. Back then, Metro was pretty much assured of getting the best out of their 750 000 investment but that has changed now, and the club for my money is putting pressure on Fransie’s agent, who is putting pressure on Fransie…
Kak situation, and perhaps enough reason for us to not consider any overseas Boks in future to avoid kak like this?
15@ Morné:
I agree…. I have been of opinion long enough now that overseas players should not be considered for Bokke.
I have various reasons for it and do not see the need that we play overseas players… All Blacks are’nt, so why should we.
These player Agents (not all of them) sometimes play a very dirty role…. as we’ve seen over the last few years…. Bernie Habana for Bakkies is a prime example…. so too Jan Harm van Wyk for Mapoe…. now Fransie’s Agent….
Money is the root of all evil….
…. or… as one of my friends used to say…
Money is the root of all evil… and all women need roots….
@ grootblousmile: 😀
Lots have mentioned recently (not here, but on other sites) that the Bok should pull out of SANZAR and head North, while I know this is just conjecture and the like, as I believe the SANZAR contract still has time to run and I imagine would be a costly move to actually do so, this type of situation will become the norm if SA ever decide to go north… Club is king in the NH, which is going to hurt the game in the long run..
I cant believe it….simple stuff…..the pot is boiling and the frog is sitting. Anyway no one is talking so I am out of here.
So Fransie can never be called up as a replacement if someone gets injured in training, the injured player must also give 14 weeks notice.
Drop the guy forever , it took him almost 20 tests(remember how many of us was never convinced he is that great) to become a decent player under the protection of Jake, why not afford Zane the same time. Zane was one of the best Boks in the lackluster Bok team against NZ.
Andy Marinos, the South African Rugby Union’s manager of national teams, blamed poor communication by Racing Metro for the decision to withdraw Steyn.
“We have a situation where the player got injured, so we need to deal with that first,” Marino said. “But to date we have been struggling to get clarity from Racing Metro on the extent of the injury.
“I don’t want to say that anyone is being disingenuous, but the difficulty with players overseas is the communication and I am concerned by the very scarce information coming back from Racing Metro,” Marino told a news conference.
Steyn last played for his country against Wales in June before falling out of favour after a disagreement with coach Peter de Villiers who hinted that his patience was wearing thin.
“Does he want to be here or not? I can’t understand if he doesn’t have a heart for the Springbok jersey,” De Villiers said. “I want a team on the field that feels strongly for our land.
“He is so talented, I want to see him play for us but there comes a point when you have to say ‘so far and no further’. We must get finality on this situation as quickly as possible,” De Villiers added
@ Morné:
Rules and regulations are in place for a reason. If none it will be chaos. What makes us so special not to adhere to them?
Users Online
Total 81 users including 0 member, 81 guests, 0 bot online
Most users ever online were 3735, on 31 August 2022 @ 6:23 pm
No Counter as from 31 October 2009: 39,432,609 Page Impressions
_