Should South Africa participate in the Rugby Championship?

I like the idea of building domestic rugby in SF rather then joining the Pro16.

Ok, I am assuming you are saying the RC tournament was a known? Ok, on 11 September it was declared that Australia would host the RC. So was there anything else known that would “assist” SARU in being more competent?

Because the situation was not unknown. Other sporting leagues and codes around the world have been forced to navigate these complexities and have managed a compromised workable solution. All the SANAAR nations have had basically all year to work this out. Argentina has managed to resolve this, despite having primarily European based players FFS. The fact that SA can't makes it feel like it either has to be a lack of will or competence. Put it this way - if Peter V'Landys were running the show you can bet he'd have worked it out ;)

The Japanese will honor their agreements. Yeah, didn’t miss that stab. Look if SARU broke their agreement and NZRU and RA has a legal recourse, then let them have a go at it. Otherwise no agreement has been broken.

We understand that their conditions were an issue. But as has been widely reported, many of these conditions have changed following the initial agreement, and a lot appears to be built around protecting their reputation. It all just reeks of bad management... something we tend to see more here with RA. In any case, good luck to SA Rugby, I've always felt that from an Australian sporting market perspective the timezone requirements of accommodating SA for Super Rugby are what have made it such a hard sell in Australia's much more competitive football market. Hopefully we can move closer to Japan and others closer to our timezone from here on out. At least with the Japanese you can be confident they'll honour their agreements as well.

Yeah, you see, I don’t get that. South African rugby players welfare, fitness, match readyness etc is the domain of Rassie Erasmus and his coaching staff, he has proven himself to be very competent. So even from an outsider perspective, I ask myself how incompetence is the first thought. Does it make any logical sense?

From the outside it looks an awful lot like incompetence really...

Yeah I was getting a definite South Park vibe 'round here... https://giphy.com/gifs/southparkgifs-l0MYsse8JnCBjQMCs Would prefer you guys stay though. Keeps things interesting!

Yep Mielie, these ups and downs for all the reasons you know has been a source of much frustration for me.

Thanks BS, yep, things are turning rather ugly here. Soon the South Africans won’t be welcomed here :silly:

Bit late to your party but after today's announcement thought I would comment here. Obviously, I'm disappointed from a personal perspective as I wanted to watch to Boks play this year. But, some of the comments on The Roar around SA rugby recently have been pretty hard to read. All I can say is, I wish your guys all the best for whatever the future brings and only hope we get as many test matches as possible against you in the years to come.

They agreed to participate if certain conditions could be met, they did not commit unconditionally. It bloody astounds me how many people do not get that, it is bloody ridiculous.

Great responses, Corne. Jeez, Bobby, have you ever been to South Africa, really know anything about the difficulties those people of all races face....some far far more than others, for sure.

" they can pretend to be World Champions a little while longer" The Springboks have won the WC three times. Of all the WC competitions, South Africa was excluded from two of those. Even not being able to attend those, the have still held the WC on three occasions. "Stumble on 2 W Cs" you were saying BlackinBlack

I quite agree Corne. Over the years, S A, more than any country in the world, has experienced major upheavals in their beloved game of Rugby. We still however have 3 W Cs to our credit even after not being allowed to play in two of the total number of W Cs that have been played. The status of our Rugby and the quality and availability of our players must be considered. The Australians would do better honing their skills for future games against the Springboks. Although they would love nothing more than claiming victory against a troop of Boy Scouts and Girl Guides wearing green jerseys.

They pulled the pin

Stand corrected that the ex Shark player and Springbok is not a South Africa

What would prevent South Africa to schedule tests before the Lions tour? They may even play the WB, New Zealand, Japan or even NH sides whoever is available. There are 9 months before the Lions tests and a these RC tests are too early and players that will form the core of the Bok side are not available. Fav, Pollard, Eztabeth, Lood, etc

The timing in my view was influenced by the availability/non-availability of South African European based players in Japan and England as the Bok's participation would have revolved on these players that were much better prepared. SARU could not come to acceptable terms on insurance requirements with NH clubs (or more cynical the clubs used insurance concerns as a mechanism not to release players). What broke the back was the COVID outbreak in European teams that have a lot of Bok players (e.g. Sale Shark) and a SA government that drag their feet to approve travel after they expressed their dissatisfaction with the refusal of some current oversea based Boks refusal to "take a knee" in support anti-racism. It was clear that SARU did their best to play in RC however it became clear in the past weeks that they have to play with a team made up of undercooked SA based players.

With respect, whilst all the points you've raised aren't unfair if assessed in a vacuum, the fact remains that SA Rugby AGREED to this previously. They've set up the expectations with broadcasters and that would provide critical funding for all members during a very challenging period. If SA Rugby had felt all of these issues were so large, they should never have agreed in the first place and allowed RA, Argentina and the NZRU to look for alternative options - potentially involving Japan or another country. The fact that they've done this at the 11th hour is what is so galling and disrespectful. They've prevented their partners from having explored alternative models without them. This is a massive opportunity and financial cost to the remaining members of SANZAAR and frankly SA Rugby may be under threat of litigation. Personally, I think that would be a fair option. The other members of SANZAAR have been unfairly stuffed around by the South Africans purely because they can't seem to get their act together or come to an agreed position. This whole debacle is indicative of what a fractious organisation the SARU are and it's costing everyone.