Johannesburg – All SANZAR disciplinary questions are now firmly behind the Springbok team and management, national teams manager Andy Marinos announced.

There will also be no disciplinary hearing for South African Rugby Union president Oregan Hoskins, after SANZAR sent a letter asking for an explanation of his comments relating to a charge of “alleged misconduct” against Springbok coach Peter de Villiers.

Reports in last Sunday’s press suggested that SANZAR were not too enamoured with Hoskins’s comments that SANZAR appeared to have declared war on SA Rugby, alluding to the lengthy bans incurred by Bok players and the de Villiers hearing.

De Villiers was cleared on Tuesday by a SANZAR disciplinary when the charge was dismissed, and Marinos said the team was looking forward to focusing on on-field matters rather than the alternative.

“There was an initial enquiry from SANZAR but I’m happy to say that all SANZAR code of conduct enquiries are behind us now and we can focus on what happens on the field,” Marinos said at the start of the four-day Springbok training camp.

Commenting on the disciplinaries, Marinos called it “an unnecessary distraction” but was happy that “sanity had prevailed”. Marinos said.

“It has been an unnecessary distraction. I don’t think you’ve seen so many code of conduct calls from SANZAR before and thankfully it is all behind us now. Sanity has prevailed and we can get on and focus on what we have to do on the field,”

“I don’t really want to talk about a process that has just unfolded. There was obviously concerns from their side that there is a case to answer and I was pretty emphatic in my response that we felt opposite.

“We’ve gone through a process now and thankfully it is behind us. Let us leave the case closed.”

Courtesy of Brenden Nel for sport24