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SA Rugby issues statement casting doubt over Springboks' Rugby Championship participation

(Photo by Craig Mercer/MB Media/Getty Images)

South Africa have still to confirm that their world champion Springboks will definitely defend their Rugby Championship title later this year in Australia. Rugby has only just returned in South Africa in recent weeks following its stoppage due to the coronavirus pandemic and a trial match took place last Saturday in Cape Town. 

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However, despite the southern hemisphere Test season kicking off with New Zealand facing Australia in Wellington on Sunday and Argentina having already arrived to clear quarantine in Australia, the situation regarding the Springboks is not yet 100 per cent clear.

In a statement issued on Saturday, SA Rugby outlined it still hasn’t signed off on the Springboks definitely participating in next month’s tournament. “The Springboks’ ability to participate in the Rugby Championship would be finalised early next week,” read the statement. 

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The team is due to defend its title in Australia between November 7 and December 12, but several hurdles need to be cleared if it is to be confirmed.

“The South African government lifted the ban on international sporting participation a week ago and directions to manage such participation were published on Wednesday evening.”

A spokesman added that SA Rugby were seeking further clarification from the departments of arts, sports, culture and transport as to how those regulations would impact on the planned participation. A final decision was only likely to be finalised early next week once those clarifications had been assessed internally and with SA Rugby’s SANZAAR partners.

The Springboks, who haven’t had a Test match since winning the World Cup final against England last November in Yokohama, are scheduled to open their Rugby Championship campaign with a November 7 match versus Argentina in Brisbane before moving to Sydney to take on host country a week later. Back-to-back matches will then follow against the All Blacks in Sydney and Newcastle. 

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Tom 7 hours ago
Will Bristol's daredevil 'Bears-ball' deliver the trophy they crave?

Also a Bristol fan and echo your sentiments.


I love watching Bristol but their approach will only get them so far I think. Exeter played like this when they first got promoted to the prem and had intermittent success, it wasn't until they wised up and played a more balanced game that they became a consistently top side.


I really want Bristol to continue playing this brand of rugby and I don't mind them running it from under their posts but I don't think they need to do it every single time. They need to be just a little bit more selective about when and where on the pitch they play. Every game they put themselves under so much needless pressure by turning the ball over under their posts trying to do kamikaze moves when it's not required. By all means run it from your goal line if there is a chance for a counter attack, we all want to see Bristol running in 100m tries from under their posts but I think until they learn when to do it and when to be pragmatic, they are unlikely to win the premiership.


Defense has been a real positive from Bristol, they've shown a lot of improvement there... And I will say that I think this kamikaze strategy they employ is a very good one for a struggling side and could be employed by Newcastle. It's seems to have turned around Gloucester's fortunes. The big advantage is even if you don't have the biggest and best players, what you have is cohesion. This is why Scotland keep battering England. England have better individuals but they look muddled as a team, trying to play a mixed strategy under coaches who lack charisma, the team has no identity. Scotland come out and give it full throttle from 1-15 even if they struggle against the top sides, sides like England and Wales who lack that identity drown under the relentless will and synergy of the Scots. If Newcastle did the same they could really surprise some people, I know the weather is bad up there but it hasn't bothered the Scots. Bristol can learn from Scotland too, Pat is on to something when he says the following but Scotland don't play test matches like headless chickens. They still play with the same level of clarity and ambition Bristol do but they are much better at picking their moments. They needed to go back to this mad game to get their cohesion back after a couple of seasons struggling but I hope they get a bit wiser from matches like Leinster and La Rochelle.


“If there’s clarity on what you’re trying to do as a team you can win anything.”

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