This week, there is a lot of news, from various fronts, on the Springboks.

The Rugby Championship game times have been announced, as has the host city for the additional Springbok game against the Pumas in Buenos Aires.

News from this week’s Springbok Training camp is dominated by the amount of injured players at the camp as well as the news today that Flip van der Merwe has made himself unavailable to the Springboks in 2015 and also for the Rugby World Cup. The reports on the injury and rehabilitation of Springbok captain also comes under discussion, with the prognosis and likelyhood of him making the world premier Rugby World Cup competition very positive.

SARU also announced today that Rhino was appointed as equipment supplier of the Springboks.

 

Springboks to return to Buenos Aires:

The Springboks will return to Buenos Aires for the 1st time in 10 years, when they face Argentina in a special Round of matches in preparation for the World Cup.

The encounter is a special Round of matches that will follow the Rugby Championship.

With the 2015 World Cup looming large, the 4 Rugby Championship teams will play an additional Round of matches on Saturday 15 August – following the conclusion of the competition a week earlier.

This Round will see New Zealand host Australia in Auckland, while South Africa will battle it out with Argentina in Buenos Aires – a venue they last visited in 2005, when they defeated Argentina 34 / 23.

The venue in Buenos Aires and kick-off time of the match will be announced in due course.

Meanwhile, the Springboks will begin The Rugby Championship campaign against Australia’s Wallabies in Brisbane on Saturday 18 July.

They then return to South Africa for back-to-back Tests against New Zealand’s All Blacks and Argentina’s Pumas respectively in Johannesburg on 25 July and in Durban on 8 August.

The All Blacks and Wallabies will kick off the condensed tournament in Christchurch on Friday 17 July, while the clash between the Springboks and Pumas in Durban will conclude the tournament.

Each team will face each other only once in this format, with the winner crowned following the match in Durban.

The Rugby Championship will commence a fortnight after the Super Rugby Final on 4 July, with the last Round of matches concluding on 15 August, giving teams just over a month before launching their World Cup campaigns.

 

The Rugby Championship Fixtures:

Friday 17 July:

• New Zealand vs Argentina – AMI Stadium, Christchurch (09:35 SA Time, 19:35 NZ Time, 04:35 Arg Time, 07:35 GMT)

 

Saturday 18 July:

• Australia vs South Africa – Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane (12:05 SA Time, 20:05 AEST, 10:05 GMT)

 

Saturday 25 July:

• South Africa vs New Zealand – Emirates Airline Park, Johannesburg (17:05 SA Time, 15:05 GMT, Sunday 03:05 NZ Time)
• Argentina vs Australia – Estadio Malvinas Argentinas, Mendoza (19:40 Arg Time, 22:40 GMT, Sunday 0:40 SA Time, Sunday 08:40 AEST)

 

Saturday 8 August:

• Australia vs New Zealand – ANZ Stadium, Sydney (12:05 SA Time, 20:05 AEST, 22:05 NZ Time, 10:05 GMT)
• South Africa vs Argentina – Growthpoint King’s Park, Durban (17:05 SA Time, 12:05 Arg Time, 15:05 GMT)

 

Additional week of International matches:

Saturday 15 August:

• New Zealand vs Australia – Eden Park, Auckland (09:35 SA Time, 19:35 NZ Time, 17:35 AEST, 07:35 GMT)
• Argentina vs South Africa – Buenos Aires, Stadium TBC (kick-off TBC)

(rugby365)

 

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Training Camp Updates:

Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer reiterated that the national team will keep the interests of the Vodacom Super Rugby franchises firmly in mind when it comes to injured players and player management as the training squad had their 1st field session on Monday afternoon.

A total of 44 players were invited to the camp and got together in Johannesburg on Sunday afternoon, but more than half of them did not take full part in Monday’s field session at St Peter’s College.

This includes 19 players who did not train at all and 5 who only took part in some of the training drills.

“Our commitment has always been not to risk any injured players at our training camps and looking at the history of these camps, we’ve not had any players pick up injuries at our camps,” said Meyer.

“We receive weekly feedback on all players from the franchise medical teams and we’ve always enjoyed a very good working relationship with them.

“We knew from the outset that a large number of players would not be able to train, which is why we decided to invite a big group to this camp, as well as our camp later this month in Cape Town.

“Injuries are part of the game and 1 of our main aims in the last few years has been to create depth in every position. By inviting a decent number of players, we’re exposing them to the Springbok culture and ethos.”

Meyer said that he was very happy with the commitment and enthusiasm shown by the players at the camp.

“I truly believe there is not 1 player we invited to these camps who is not good enough to play for South Africa,” added the Springbok coach.

“In putting together this squad, we took into consideration the situation with injured players, but also rewarded Vodacom Super Rugby form. Camps such as these also gives us an opportunity to work with players, to tell them where they stand and where they can improve to become even better players.

“It’s wonderful to see how excited all the players, old and new, are to be here – and being back in the Bok fold also made me realise what a massive honour and privilege it is to represent my country in this way.

“They will challenge each other for places in the squads for the Castle Lager Rugby Championship and the Rugby World Cup and will make it very difficult to make final selections, but that is what we’d like to see.”

The following players took little or no part in training: Jesse Kriel, Pat Lambie, Jean de Villiers, Lood de Jager, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Jan Serfontein, Coenie Oosthuisen, Oupa Mohoje, Willie le Roux, Rudy Paige, Heinrich Brüssow, Kobus van Wyk, Robbie Coetzee, Siya Kolisi, Dean Greyling, Elton Jantjies, Juan de Jongh, Ruan Botha, Lionel Mapoe, Arno Botha, Bjorn Basson, Schalk Burger, Trevor Nyakane, Francois Venter.

 

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Jean de Villiers injury progress:

Springbok captain Jean de Villiers is right on track to prove his fitness for the Rugby World Cup and may even play a few games before heading to England with the squad.

De Villiers is in a race against time to get fit following a horrific injury suffered during last year’s end of season test against Wales but is progressing well ahead of the cut-off when the squad is named in August.

De Villiers has even started running again, and will soon be rejoining his DHL Stormers teammates in their training session as he follows a targeted regime to get him ready before the side is announced.

Bok doctor Craig Roberts confirmed the medical staff’s satisfaction and said De Villiers now needed to continue before getting some confidence back through game time.

“We’re very happy with Jean’s progress, obviously we’re taking it week by week and at the moment he is working incredibly hard and making progress. There is a long time before the World Cup and we need to start programming him to get him some game time and confidence before the World Cup,” Dr Roberts said.

“We’re looking at that at the moment. Again though, it is something we’re taking week by week. We’re happy with his progress but it is still early days.

Roberts confirmed that De Villiers was running again and was progressing well.

“He’s running pretty hard, he’s running really hard,” Roberts added, “He is doing a lot of field training and doing a lot of conditioning. He isn’t far from doing some team training so we are happy with his progress.”

Despite the deadline for the injury, De Villiers may be a special case scenario, with the Bok management considering playing him before the World Cup, even if it means playing him in the ABSA Currie Cup.

“That’s a conversation we do have with the coach. It is also important he gets some game time, even with 100 caps and experience like his, he needs to get back to form. It is 1 thing getting back to playing, to get back to form is another and to get confidence. That is what we will be looking at with him, to give him some game time and confidence. That is our plan.”

(SuperSport)

 

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Rhino appointed as Official Equipment Supplier:

The South African Rugby Union (SARU) on Tuesday announced that Rhino Rugby South Africa has been appointed as the official supplier of breakdown and scrumming equipment to the Springboks for the next 3 years.

The 1st set of equipment was delivered to the Springboks at their training camp in Johannesburg on Monday.

Rhino has delivered a full squad set of the Collision King breakdown training equipment and a Dictator scrum machine to the Springbok training squad.

A further 3 sets of similar equipment will be delivered to SARU and will be based around the country for the use of the Springboks as well as other South African national teams during training camps.

Rhino is most famous for being the 1st company to develop mass produced scrummaging machines in the late 1970’s, and in recent years it has also become a world leader in specialist equipment to train for the breakdown phase of rugby.

Jurie Roux, CEO of SARU, said: “Training equipment has become a very important part of the modern game – even school teams nowadays use some form of training equipment, from scrum machines, breakdown machines, line out equipment and more.

“To have Rhino come on board officially with the Springboks is magnificent as they are known across the globe as the leader in specialised rugby training equipment. I know their equipment will give us an edge in this very important season and I’m sure the team can’t wait to get stuck in with our new Rhino gear.”

Reg Clark, CEO of the Rhino Group, welcomed the deal: “Rhino’s relationship with South African rugby goes back a long way and is something we are very proud of,” he said.

“An Official Supplier deal with the Springboks takes this onto a new level, however, and we are extremely excited by this development. We hope to use it as a springboard to grow our market share in our core product area and develop our brand further in this very important rugby market”.

Albert Pestana of Rhino Rugby South Africa said: “We are proud to be chosen by the South African Rugby Union as the official supplier for breakdown and scrumming equipment for the Springboks and other national teams.

“We firmly believe in the quality of our breakdown and scrumming equipment and this appointment is a testament to this fact. This deal will see our partnership with South African Rugby and our presence in South Africa grow from strength to strength. We are committed to developing the technical skills of all South African rugby players in the safest way possible, for the betterment of the game in our Africa.”

 

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Flip van der Merwe not available for World Cup:

Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer has dropped a bombshell in Johannesburg by announcing that Flip van der Merwe has made himself unavailable for international duty.

Van der Merwe must have been seen as a certainty for the Springboks due to his experience, as well as his versatility in a position that has been struck with injuries of late.

However, the coach announced to the media in Johannesburg that the Bulls lock would not be available for the World Cup, or any other international duty this year.

“Flip is not available for international rugby at the moment,” Meyer told reporters.

“It is a big setback as I’ve always rated him and he is an enforcer.

“You need an enforcer for international rugby and he can play at No 5 as well.

“He would be in this squad but unfortunately he isn’t available.”

There has been a growing concern over the lock position for Meyer with injuries, retirement and other players making themselves unavailible, hampering the coach.

Van der Merwe’s contract expires with the Bulls at the end of 2015, having signed with Clermont in France.

Xander Janse van Rensburg, the High Performance Manager at the Blue Bulls Company, said: “Flip, when he renewed his contract in 2012, already told us he was heading abroad after 2015.”

With the World Cup in England a little over 4 months away, the Springboks suddenly have problems in a position where they have enjoyed so much depth down the years.

The retirement of veteran Bakkies Botha, Andries Bekker’s move to Japan 2 years ago and injuries to current campaigners has left Meyer sweating over his options in the 2nd row.

“Eben (Etzebeth) is recovering from injury, Pieter-Steph (du Toit) is injured and Victor (Matfield) has been out with a knee, so if there is 1 position I’m worried about, that is it,” he said.

“There are 1 or 2 loose forwards that can play lock, but you need specialists there.

“Lodewyk (de Jager) is also injured, so if I had to pick a side today we’d be in trouble with locks.”

Meyer admitted his other area of concern was at centre, with captain Jean de Villiers progressing well in his recovery from a major knee injury but still touch-and-go for the World Cup.

“Flyhalves we are doing fine and there’s enough No 9’s, but the other position I’m worried about is centre.

“We have had a lot of injuries in the midfield, while at fullback there are players coming through.”

(rugby365)