Marnus counts blessings as Covid-19 pay cuts bite
But the nippy Lions flanker is convinced people will be better human beings when the pandemic is tamed.
Marnus Schoeman has been drafted into the Lions team, in place of Jaco Kriel, for the Bulls match on Wednesday. Picture: Getty Images
Life-changing pay cuts have hit the country’s leading rugby players like a typical highveld hailstorm.
As advised by SA Rugby, locally-based players will have to take a 25 to 35% pay cut depending on their salary scale due to the financial strain caused by the coronavirus pandemic, while some of them have a three-week window to explore overseas options.
But because the implications reach much further than the rugby community, live wire Lions flanker Marnus Schoeman believes it is better to count your blessings than mope about the situation.
“The lockdown has greatly affected the economy and has influenced everybody all the way through,” said Schoeman.
“It is a challenge, but people will get out on the other side as better human beings. It has shown that if you are being put under pressure you arrive on the other side much better. It just shows us again how thankful you must be for what we’ve had.”
Schoeman is hopeful that the suggested stop-gap local competition between the four Super Rugby sides and the Cheetahs and Kings will materialise.
“It would be like a Currie Cup of old with the traditional teams and at this stage the players and supporters will welcome any sort of rugby,’’ he says.
“The hunger is there and we are looking forward to such an enterprise.”
The former Pumas star said they have trained well in isolation and believed all the teams would have put plans in place, whether it is in the garden or the driveway.
“Maybe the training was on a completely different level, but I think the players have worked hard and it would take an adjustment at first, but I don’t think the guys will be too rusty after having not played for a while.”
In these trying times Schoeman said his household is counting its blessings having welcomed a new member to the family.
“We got a new baby, our first, a boy named Muller. We love him to bits and he brought a big light in our lives. It’s been a blessing in this time to be able to spend time with him and my wife.”
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