Spare a thought for Snor

The news of yet another test match for the Springboks can only be greeted with a sigh, a shake of the head and a lot of muttering under one’s breath.
NIGHTMARE SCHEDULE FOR BOK COACH

Brenden Nel, SuperRugby

The World Champions will face a mammoth year, playing 14 test matches in a period where there has been much talk about resting players, and where other nations are gearing up for next year’s World Cup campaign in New Zealand.

Yet in planning the most important preparation year for the World Cup, poor Peter de Villiers was not consulted, and now has to best manage the nightmare schedule ahead of him this year.

While it is easy to be flogging SA Rugby for their decision to impose the heavy schedule, rugby is a professional game and when the going is good, money is there to be made.

This is the primary reason for the long test itinerary, especially with the Boks, as reigning World Champions and Tri-Nations champions, being the biggest drawcard for any rugby nation across the world.

The Home Unions in particular, are sure to draw big crowds, make money and have the added bonus of testing their squads’ strength against the World Champs. Not a bad deal for anyone with an eye on a good performance at next year’s World Cup.

But where does it leave the Boks? The imposition of the Cardiff test in June is a strange one, especially as it comes five days after the Super 14 final — where there is a good chance the majority of the current squad from the Bulls may be playing — and forces the side to travel overseas before their internal international season starts.

Financial rewards

At the forefront it all looks like madness, but you can be sure there are impressive financial rewards for SA Rugby to up the squad to Cardiff for a week that will help fund player development and the game going forward.

Ditto with the Grand Slam tour at the end of the year, and the added Barbarians fixture a week into December. All of these are sure money spinners, and SA Rugby will be compensated very well for their appearances, which bodes well on the financial side for the future.

Lack of foresight

I suppose the most disappointing thing about the schedule, other than the heavy workload, is the lack of adventure and foresight that it brings. After all, if there were to be more tests, why not in Tokyo, or Hong Kong, as the All Blacks and Wallabies have done? Or the USA? Or other markets?

In essence SA Rugby’s golden goose has lacked the enthusiasm to search for new markets, and will send the Boks on another tour to the UK where we will be greeted by more talk of fatigue and “a game too far”.

One has to feel sorry for poor De Villiers. Talk of resting players in the Super 14 and Currie Cup has been overtaken by the wooing of the pound, and with bank balances filled, there will still be a demand for the best performances from our professional stars.

Protect the core

So under the circumstances, what can the Springbok coach do to overcome the difficulties and still take the Boks through a big year without forever ruining our chances of defending the Webb Ellis trophy?

The first, and most logical thing to do, would be to protect the core of top Boks that De Villiers wants to spearhead his campaign in New Zealand. To do this, you would need to ensure that these Boks don’t play more than say eight tests this year (I believe that is the number put forward by the specialists).

Now to do that, it would mean that these players — the likes of Victor Matfield, John Smit, Bakkies Botha, Juan Smith, Fourie du Preez, Morne Steyn, Pierre Spies, Schalk Burger and a select few others — are protected by limiting their tests this year.

There is no need for these stars to play each test. If logic prevails, then the core group would play the important games — say the six Tri Nations tests, the June outing against France and either England or Ireland on the end of year tour.

This will keep them playing at the highest level, while giving them enough rest in between to ensure they are in top physical shape.

The next step would then to identify the group of overseas-based stars who De Villiers wants back in his group. Players such as Jean de Villiers (already on his way back), CJ van der Linde, BJ Botha and a few others have shown they have the talent to slot into any Springbok test team.

By using these players, they will fill a small void left by some of the core group in the lesser test matches, and give De Villiers an opportunity to gauge their form ahead of next year.

Younger group

Finally, and this is where the player management will need to be at its best, the tests against Italy in particular, and Scotland at the end of year, can be managed by a younger group of players.

One school of thought could be to split the Bok squad on the end of year tour along Super 14 lines. Form a core group containing say, Bulls and Stormers players, and another from the Sharks, Lions and Cheetahs should be able to handle the tour if they are managed properly.

The key element here would obviously be not to cheapen the Springbok colours by handing out a host of new caps, but unless some strategy is adopted, SA Rugby will sit with a host of fatigued players at the end of the season, which could spell disaster.

The other problem is that tour agreements could force SA Rugby to “play their best team” at all times.

Either way, better planning could have averted the headaches De Villiers now sits with, and it is incomprehensible that he wasn’t consulted before the itinerary was finalised.

De Villiers will need to find a few creative ways of solving his own problems, or we can kiss next year’s World Cup campaign goodbye.