Bok international participation still in the air

The Springbok brains trust are running out of time to get the players into any sort of match shape with a date of 10 October set as the final cut-off for the Springboks to be included in the Castle Lager Rugby Championship or not.

Despite the players not being physically ready to play international rugby, there is a chance that they won’t be allowed out of the country despite the borders reopening on 1 October.

“There are a few things to consider but we haven’t been given the green light for international sporting competition yet,” new head coach of the Springboks Jacques Nienaber said.

“That is something that is out of out hands so we have to wait on guidance from government on that.

“When that happens then we have to look at the other factors like the isolation period in Australia. We are waiting for guidelines from the Australian government about what we can actually do when we are there in isolation.”

Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus broke it down that the players need as much game-time as possible if they are going to be competitive.

“We need to get five or six games out of the players before it is safe for them.

“The guys are going to need 400 or 500 minutes in them to be safe and competitive in an international environment. Those guys who have played close to those numbers are the guys who are playing overseas.

“The guy that has played the most overseas has only played just over 400 minutes.

“We know we want to go, we know we have to go but we are now trying to work out how it’s going to be possible for us to go.”

Despite some intense rugby from the weekend at the Vodacom Super Fan Saturday, the injury list is fairly minimal which is good for the coaches going into this weekend.

“There is an injury to Frans Malherbe so Ruan Dreyer comes into the starting line-up and Carlu Sadie comes onto the bench.

“Sergeal Petersen didn’t play over the weekend so we assessed him last night and it would be too risky for him to play so we got in Cortnell Skosan for him.

“In the Green side Seabelo (Senatla) picked up an injury so Malcolm Jaer will come into the side in his place,” Nienaber said.

The Green versus Gold clash will take place at DHL Newlands Stadium behind closed doors.