Why SA Rugby could not confirm Springboks for the Rugby Championships

11 September 2020 - 12:02 By Mahlatse Mphahlele
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South African Rugby chief executive Jurie Roux.
South African Rugby chief executive Jurie Roux.
Image: GALLO IMAGES

SA Rugby chief executive Jurie Roux has explained that they could not confirm Springbok’s participation in the Rugby Championship this year while a ban on international sporting activity remained in place in the country.

Australia was on Friday confirmed as the hosts for the southern hemisphere's four-nation championship which includes New Zealand and Argentina in November and December.

The event is scheduled to take place from 7 November to 12 December.

“We are pleased that the venue has now been confirmed and would like to commend SANZAAR and Rugby Australia for their work behind the scenes to make it possible‚” said Roux. “We are very eager to see the Springboks return to play but there are still some hurdles to clear and we will be addressing those in the coming weeks.

“SA Rugby could not confirm participation while a ban on international sporting activity remained in place in South Africa‚ while there were other high performance and player wellness issues to consider.”

Roux also pointed out that New Zealand resumed match play three months ago while Australia had been in action for 10 weeks and by contrast South African players only resumed contact training two weeks ago.

 

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