Rumours persist that Springboks will pull out of Rugby Championship

I think the whole test calendar should have been scrapped this year and just focus on domestic comps worldwide, it’s quite funny after all the rest players have had, they want to cram games in, injures coming 2022 I believe!!!! I think SA should pull out, you go in under cooked against AU and NZ , you risk long term injuries for the lions tour. Stick with SRUnlocked then Currie cup. Then March to June play another SRU with 8 teams to get ready for the lions. Question: did Argentina start rugby back up?

Ok... so I guess not everyone is over it. But there is always some people who can’t be helped. Let’s just say that both of the reasonable ABs fans have let it go :laughing: :silly:

Cheers Machooka, if only there were more people like you who actually listened to what I had to say instead of dismissing it because of my relatively young age or simply because I dare to have an opinion! So your comments are very kind, thank you.

Firstly Carlos, I was only commenting on the Springboks as that is the main topic of conversation here. But I appreciate those details about the situation in Argentina - always good to read comments from someone who knows the situation well :thumbup: .

A reference to WB was made today!! :laughing:

Thanks Josh... as I've said before, you are wise beyond your years. :thumbup:

I have no problems if there are genuine player welfare issues. But to put reasons such as it would reduce quality of Currie Cup is not right either, if that was the case there would have been no point in SANZAAR and RA organising fixtures. Reasons such as our top players are injured so we not going to come.. seriously? I guess I'm more having a crack at the article.

An agreement is in place with conditions concerning Covid.

Both the ABs and Wallabies are at a huge advantage- played at least 8 SuperRugby matches, the North Island v South Island and 3 Test matches ( 4 for ABs and 1 for SA on this Test). For the Wallabies the Rebel players have been away from family since the beginning of Super Rugby so a lot longer than ABs. SA are currently Number 1 in the world and holders of RWC plus the TRC so a lot on the line. Considering how catastrophic it was when some Kiwis thought when the ABs looked like missing Xmas I think SA has the right to make their own decisions without criticism . I hope they come but their decision

A sports scientist who is paid to give a certain answer. Where is the data showing rate of injuries based on number of hours played? After all just saying something isn't sufficient, nor a hypothesis, however published research and data to be peer reviewed is credible. Where is this data then?

I know it would be short notice but you could probably get a ANZAC/Pacific Islands Barbarians team to replace them. You’d have some good players from SRA and SRAU that missed out on national selection ready to go and possibly some Euro based players keen to come back for the international window. Maybe pull Steve Hansen out of international retirement to coach them. Keeps the 4 team tournament and the broadcasters revenue this way, especially if you could bring a couple of big names back from Europe to make them competitive.

It is not a point of discrediting, not at all. The issue is that each country has their own way to deal with the situation. They have to decide on each trade-off. On what is going on internally, the player availability, etc. As I have been mentioning, Argentina is undergoing one of its worse disasters in decades, economically, politically and aggravated by a complete failure to deal with COVID. This is why they made the "rational" decision to leave the country and practice in Uruguay. By the way, I grew up spending most of my summers in Uruguay so I am very fond of the country and their people. Uruguay has been welcoming of the Pumas and other Argentineans in general. Indeed, some of my good friends have recently emigrated there due to the higher quality of life and stability. But it is not Argentina. It is as if the Wallabies have to leave the country and practice in NZ, not to prepare one game in quarantine, but as a full time set up.

I stand corrected on that. I was basing it on last year's draw but didn't take into account the rescheduling due to the RWC.

How do you figure that? Pro 14 in the 2018/119 season started in Mid August. The Gallagher Premiership started end of August as did the French top 14.

I hope you didn't think I was discrediting what the Pumas have had to do to be able to compete in the Rugby Championship Carlos.

Again, I repeat, the Pumas team and coaches had to leave Argentina and train in Uruguay to protect themselves from Covid.

Corne, do you know that in a non Covid year, the 6 Nations players only have 3-4 club games as preparation before they play SA, NZ, Australia and Argentina in the Autumn Internationals? That's arguably even less prep time that what the Boks have, and certainly a lot less practice time together as the Boks will be in camp for much longer than the 6 nations teams.

If there was an applause emoji on here Machooka, you'd be getting plenty of it. Have a big thumbs up as a replacement prize :thumbup: . That was well said. As long as people keep one foot in their echo chamber, they'll stick to their battle lines. And, unfortunately, that has created clear factions in the rugby section of this site where people spend more time arguing on national battle lines rather than debating the topic at hand. As for that topic, I am in complete agreement with you Machooka. It would be disappointing if South Africa are unable to make it but the international travel restrictions imposed on all South Africans are making it extremely tough for their sportsmen and women to leave the country to compete. That's in addition to the strict domestic Covid restrictions which forced domestic sport to lay dormant for so long. I think some are misconstruing the rumours of South Africa potentially pulling out of the Rugby Championship as some sort of escape mechanism from the fact that their side will be weak (the prep certainly won't be the best but it is what it is - we all have to adapt to whatever Covid throws our way). The bottom line will be the logistics and if that isn't in South Africa's favour then they won't come. The decision has nothing to do with the squad itself IMO. I understand that there are European-based South African players who will make their way over to Australia anyway (more than happy to be corrected if I've got something wrong there). Here's hoping that South Africa can play in the Rugby Championship but if Covid puts a stop to that then we'll have to move on. All you can do is try. This is what sport is going to have to deal with for the foreseeable future, just like everybody else, and there's not much anyone can do about it (if at all). Thanks again for calling the rubbish out Machooka. Much appreciated.

Scottie, using a player (a world class player at that) as an example that can fit into a well prepared squad vs a whole squad that is unprepared makes virtually no sense.

Well, I would certainly take the opinion of a world class player who is actually playing the game and has hands on experience over some sports scientist who has probably never been tackled in his life. Wouldn’t you? I also rely on my own eyes when making up my mind. I remember in 2013 when Richie McCaw was out of rugby for a few months, made his comeback in a club game and went on to play the Wallabies the next weekend and was one of the outstanding figures in that game. But you stick to some sports scientist because Rassie told you to.