Here’s an exercise: take a sample group of ten Springboks who took part in the 2008 Super 14 series, analyse their game time, then ask yourself, are we contributing to the corrosive attrition of our leading rugby players?
Then make this sample group of ten elite players across four provinces — Western Province/Stormers, Bulls, Cheetahs/FS Cheetahs and the Sharks — and look at the statistics regarding their ‘contacts’ during game time:
1. Burger, Schalk
2. de Villiers, Jean
3. Botha, Bakkies
4. Habana, Bryan
5. Spies, Pierre
6. Smith, Juan
7. Van der Linde, CJ
8. Pienaar, Ruan
9. Pietersen, JP
10. Steyn, Francois
How long have these guys played in the Super 14 this year, quite apart from all the consecutive Tests against Wales, Italy, Argentina, New Zealand and Australia, and what did they do during these 10 games and 12 hours of relentless game time?
We already face the crossroads of some soul searching on the ‘price’ of ‘pay for play’ versus ‘pay for performance’.
The money factor will make your eyes water, but before that happens, your head will spin from what is physically required and what is delivered by contracted South African rugby players.
But it helps to understand this sample group of ten players first.
Quite apart from the training and the endless matches for just a small pool of 150 South African elite players out of 500,000 registered players in South Africa, it is inconceivable that South Africa has but 150 elite players or even 450 players.
They don’t.
South Africa most certainly has an elite player pool of 4,500 South African rugby players that could stand ten deep behind each and every position of the 450 players to whom are exposed to us via cable.
The fact is that there are more elite players in South Africa than anywhere else in the world, but too few tournaments to include these players.
As a consequence, outstanding talent are never seen or heard of after their highschool days.
It is possible that the bulk of the so-called ‘elite’ players are there by virtue of them having little or no other career option than to be a professional rugby player for a few years.
What of the talent with significant intellectual capital that go on to university or tertiary educational institutions, or merely seek out careers, before being offered a contract to play rugby?
This is why we get players with zero life skills or even secondary or tertiary education, and they have to cling to every game they play to maximise their earning potential from ‘match fees’ — and, of course, you start to see the emergence of delinquent behaviour and violence.
Thankfully the physical prowess of a professional rugby player on the field can now be measured through sophisticated video analysis that determines the number of minutes played and various identifiable actions on the field.
But at no time are injuries measured; they are merely reported on, so there is no correlation of this data.
The physical categories of play being measured are:
1. Tackled
2. Tackles/missed applied
3. Ball carries
4. Passing/offloads
5. Rucks attack
6. Rucks defence
7. Kicking
8. Goal/drop kicks
9. LO jumps
10. LO contesting
11. Scrums own ball
12. Scrums opposition ball
13. Mauls own ball
14. Mauls opposition ball
Start with the amount of game time, in total minutes, across the Super 14 this year in 2008 and note that the below ten players were on the field in high-impact, high-level Test rugby conditions over ten weeks from a low end of four-and-a-half hours to twelve hours: an extraordinary amount of game time and impact to the body — mainly legs, groin, shoulder, arms and neck.
Player’s total times (min)
Burger, S: 530
De Villiers, J: 720
Botha, B: 500
Habana, B: 548
Spies, P: 320
Smith, J: 271
Van der Linde, CJ: 259
Pienaar, R: 331
Pietersen, JP: 585
Steyn, F: 720
The exceptional top-end-to-low-end range of these contact statistics for each category is staggering.
1. Tackled
Francois Steyn: 67
CJ van der Linde + Bakkies Botha: 10
2. Tackles/missed applied
Jean de Villiers: 107
CJ van der Linde: 27
3. Ball carries
Francois Steyn: 73
CJ van der Linde: 11
4. Passing/offloads
Ruan Pienaar: 173
CJ van der Linde: 9
5. Rucks attack
Schalk Burger: 116
Ruan Pienaar: 18
6. Rucks defence
Bakkies Botha: 60
Ruan Pienaar: 6
7. Kicking
Ruan Pienaar: 66
Bryan Habana + CJ van der Linde: 0
8. Goal/drop kicks
Francois Steyn: 25
9. LO jumps
Bakkies Botha: 29
10. LO contesting
Pierre Spies: 13
11. Scrums own ball
Schalk Burger: 84
12. Scrums opposition ball
Schalk Burger: 93
13. Mauls own ball
Bakkies Botha: 44
14. Mauls opposition ball
Schalk Burger + Bakkies Botha: 16
With the abundance of rugby talent in South Africa, it is unnecessary to place so much emphasis and pressure on an individual every game week in and week out.
Resting, rotation and induction of talented players into the elite squads is a prerequisite, so the best players can be optimised in selected games, not every game.
With the influx and recognition of talent for elite squads, less big money can be paid to a few individuals and more money can be paid to a greater number of players, putting less of a financial burden on the unions, franchises and South African Rugby.
Which is why salary caps, floors and player rotation work.
Just ask the Kiwis who won the Tri-Nations this year! They use it, even though they are crying that some of their best players are leaving for the Northern Hemisphere.
It is a fact and they have gotten over it. And their results speak for themselves.
Australian Research Study: Dr Bathgate, Eastern Suburbs Sports Medicine Centre, Sydney 2002, Australia; Accepted 22 October 2001
Objectives: To assess injury patterns and incidence in the Australian Wallabies rugby union players from 1994 to 2000. To compare these patterns and rates with those seen at other levels of play, and to see how they have changed since the beginning of the professional era.
Methods: Prospective data were recorded from 1994 to 2000. All injuries to Australian Wallabies rugby union players were recorded by the team doctor. An injury was defined as one that forced a player to either leave the field or miss a subsequent game.
Results: A total of 143 injuries were recorded from 91 matches. The overall injury rate was 6.9/100 player hours of game play. The injury rates in the periods before (1994–1995) and after (1996–2000) the start of the professional era were 4.7/100 player hours and 7.4/100 player hours respectively.
The lock was the most injured forward, and the number 10 the most injured back.
Most injuries were soft tissue, closed injuries (55%), with the head being the most commonly injured region (25.1%). The phase of play responsible for most injuries was the tackle (58.7%).
Injuries were more likely to occur in the second half of the game, specifically the third quarter (40%). The vast majority of injuries were acute (90%), with the remainder being either chronic or recurrent.Conclusions: Injury rate increases at higher levels of play in rugby union.
Injury rates have increased in the professional era. Most injuries are now seen in the third quarter of the game, a finding that may reflect new substitution laws.
There is a need for standardised collection of injury data in rugby union.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.
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