MARK KEOHANE argues for a crucial discussion between Rassie Erasmus and South Africa’s franchise coaches to find a balance in managing the availability of Springbok players.
Writing for TimesLIVE, Keohane emphasises the need to consider the preparations for South Africa’s two-Test home series against Ireland in July while keeping key players fresh.
He highlights the challenge of weighing up the aspirations of the franchises in the Vodacom URC and EPCR with the national team’s requirements. Keohane acknowledges that the Boks take precedence in a World Cup year but outside of that, local teams’ needs must be considered, especially those housing several world champions.
However, Keohane stresses the importance of assessing players individually and not applying a blanket policy, considering factors like limited World Cup minutes and injuries.
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“Ireland will be a scalp the Boks will be seeking and herein lies the question that will be debated between the national coach and the URC coaches in the buildup to the July internationals,” he writes.
“Is this series, for example, bigger than the prospect of a South African winner in the URC, Champions Cup or Challenge Cup?
“Erasmus’ discussions with the coaches will focus on the non-negotiables of a handful of players, but the larger portion of the World Cup group should be playing, especially those who had limited minutes during the World Cup and still made a late entry into the URC.
“Reason and rugby sanity must prevail.”
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