Pennyhill Park Hotel

The Springboks welcomed the chance to take over England’s posh base at Pennyhill Park this week, saying it would allow them to focus away from all the distractions of the Rugby World Cup.

The base, which is set in the Surrey countryside, feels like a continent away from the hustle and bustle of London, and requires most journalists 2 trains and a 20 minute cab ride to even get to the plush 120 acre estate.

But the base, even though it is in the middle of nowhere, has been set up perfectly for England’s ill-fated campaign, with an indoor pitch, training area and gym as well as a manicured outdoor pitch now at the beck and call of the Springboks for the remainder of the competition.

Ironically while England would have used the base for the entirety of the competition had they stayed in this year’s Rugby World Cup, but the team that was actually allocated the base because of the draw – Michael Cheika’s Australian team – turned it down and opted for the Springbok base last week at the Lensbury in Teddington.

The absolute difference in opulence is apparent when you arrive in Ascot to take the final steps towards the new Springbok base and one is greeted by a McLaren dealership, where prices resemble some of the most expensive houses in South Africa, not to mention the nearby famous Ascot racecourse.

But while the base is far out of town, the Springboks believe the solitude can be good for them, even though it didn’t help the English side with their campaign.

“There has been a lot of excitement for the guys to see the size of the rooms. Obviously it is a way outside town, so what is nice is that we distance ourself from being caught up what goes on around you,” winger Bryan Habana said.

“The focus and full intensity of training sessions will be high. I think it is a fantastic facility – I’m not too sure, the pool is heated but despite that it is not as warm as we had in the Lensbury the last few days.

“Fantastic facilities and the way England have been increasing in terms of their ability to compete with the best in the world comes from the standards they set themselves off the field.

“These are some world class facilities that hopefully we can use to the best of our ability to prepare for this weekend’s game.”

The aspect that the Springboks were most impressed with was the Links golf course on the estate, and it wasn’t surprising to see a few fringe members of the squad try and work in 9 holes on the course after the afternoon training session on Monday.

Wallabies did not want England’s old base… considered “too boring”:

The Wallabies have disclosed why they opted not to move into the England base at Pennyhill Park outside London, where the Springboks are currently staying – they considered it “too boring”.

The Australians had drawn the highest number so had 1st right of refusal when the bases for the play-off phases of the Rugby World Cup were drawn, and could have moved into Pennyhill had they wanted to. England had to vacate their usual Surrey training camp on Sunday as they were knocked out of the tournament in the play-off phases.

The England media have suggested that what they described as “the joyless” England approach to the Rugby World Cup might have had a role to play in the non-performance of the team at the tournament their country hosted, and some of them were eager to lap up the words of Australian kicking coach Chris Malone when he spoke about the reasons why the Wallabies didn’t elect for the England base.

Australia have moved into the Lensbury in Teddington, where the Springboks were housed last week, and Malone explained the move by saying that there was nothing to do in Pennyhill.

“No, there’s nothing to do out there. We’re transferring to Teddington. A few of our guys will be able to play a bit of golf and a few will go to the cinema,” said Malone when asked if Wallaby management had been tempted to stay in Pennyhill.

Oliver Jones wrote in the Daily Telegraph on Tuesday that Malone’s words “heightened the impression that England players were not given sufficient breathing space for their own amusement during a failed Rugby World Cup campaign.”

Where a team is based, and how much the coach is prepared to allow players to mix the hard with entertainment, can tell you a lot about a team and the management. For instance, during Rudolf Straeuli’s reign as Springbok coach, he used to often take his squad to isolated places to prepare away from the glare of the media and even the attentions of family members and girlfriends.

When the Springboks bombed out of the 2003 World Cup, they were accused of having too much of a laager mentality and being too inward looking. Straeuli opted for police camps and university residences as venues for training camps, whereas his immediate predecessors, Nick Mallett and Harry Viljoen, used to take the Springboks to the Beacon Island resort in Plettenberg Bay.

The Heyneke Meyer era as Springbok coach has not been a repeat of 2003. During their pre-Rugby World Cup training camp, the Springboks were housed in the plush Beverley Hills hotel in the heart of Umhlanga Rocks, while on previous visits to London, the Springboks have stayed in a hotel on High Street, Kensington, right in the heart of the city.

Of course, the choice of venue to prepare for big games can sometimes also be dictated by the team culture, be it an existing culture or one that the coach is trying to instil. To be fair, England have been using Pennyhill as their training base forever, and South African rugby writers who covered the very 1st post-isolation Springbok tour in 1992 will recall going out there for England press conferences.

However, England No 8 Billy Vunipola was recently quoted in the UK media saying that the team would have bonded together better had they been allowed to go to a pub every now and then, which is an indication that England coach Stuart Lancaster might have gone too far in trying to prevent a repeat of the infamous 2011 Rugby World Cup campaign, where dwarf throwing topped the list of bizarre activities that England squad got up to.

As has been pointed out elsewhere in the English media, that England team did at least make the quarterfinals.

SuperSport