Opinion: Rugby Champs decision might not be popular, but it is the right call

Sanity has prevailed following the news on Friday morning that the World Cup winners, the Springboks, have officially pulled out of this year’s Rugby Championship.

Although it was still a big shock to all local supporters, it was widely expected after several legendary former Boks warned recently that the national team would not be ready to play in the competition.

Former Bok lock Kobus Wiese, for instance, stated that the Championship would lose a lot of its stature without South Africa in it.

“It must be remembered that we are the championship holders, as well as the world champions, and they (the competition) might need us more than we need them,” said Wiese.

It could mean that the Sanzaar alliance is now in deep waters after 25 years.

Following plenty of speculation about the Boks’ withdrawal from the 2020 competition, on Friday morning the Chief Executive officer of SA Rugby, Jurie Roux, brought an end to all the talk and discussion by confirming the Boks won’t play in the competition.

Roux said the SA government’s policy on international travel restrictions, player welfare and safety fears were all contributing factors in the decision that was taken.

Instead of a 12-week competition being staged, the revamped competition will now be played over just six weeks, with the start and finish taking place in Sydney.

Roux said that while the decision came as a big disappointment for players, stakeholders and commercial partners alike, it is now time to enjoy the local competition and prepare the national team for next year’s British and Irish Lions Tour of South Africa.

ALSO READ: ‘We couldn’t take any short cuts,’ says SA Rugby boss about Boks’ withdrawal

It’s reported that SA Rugby could lose a big share of R300 million from the Championship; believed to be in the region of R118 million, while SA Rugby also earlier this year had to cut R1.2 million from their budget as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the loss of television income after several local competitions had to be cancelled.

Former Boks like Wynand Claassen, Schalk Burger and Victor Matfield recently warned that the Boks would not be ready to take on Australia and New Zealand in Test matches after only getting back into proper domestic action recently, with the new-look local competition, Super Rugby Unlocked, only getting underway last weekend.

Claassen, for instance, asked, “Who would be blamed if the Boks suffered another 57-0 loss, like in 2017 to the All Blacks?”

National Director of Rugby, Rassie Erasmus, recently stressed that this country’s players would only have between 80 and 240 minutes behind them when, ideally, they would need, as a minimum requirement, between 400 and 500 minutes and at least six matches of high intensity rugby, to be competitive on the Test stage.

What SA Rugby have decided might not be the popular decision, but it is the right decision.

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