Ken Borland

The last time the Springboks were preparing for action it was all about making sure they peaked for the 2019 World Cup, and Bulls prop Trevor Nyakane said on Tuesday that the same levels of readiness are now being sought ahead of the series against the British and Irish Lions.

Although no dates have yet been set for the Lions tour, the Tests are probably not much more than three months away and the Springboks based at home will only return to action this weekend with the start of the Rainbow Cup. Which itself will be cut short if the South African franchise are not allowed overseas.

Nyakane has an added complication in that he will miss the Bulls’ opening match, against the Gauteng Lions in Pretoria on Saturday, due to a rib injury. But he played a full part in the Springbok alignment camp that was held last week.

“There hasn’t been much time for big Springbok camps but we received a lot of enlightening information so we can do what is required to prepare for the Lions series. I really enjoyed it and it was good to see the unions working with each other. We were able to see how the Springbok management want to go forward and they reminded us of what is expected.

“At the World Cup, we went in firing at our best and that’s what they’re looking for again now. They were reminding us of what we produced before, what we are capable of, and work-rate things, whether they want us to gain weight or lose weight, or be fitter. So we have to make sure we meet those standards and we know what is required to play Springbok rugby,” Nyakane said on Tuesday.

In terms of the Bulls, Nyakane said they have been working hard on giving the consumers of Bulls rugby what they want: Which is more trophies, and a dominant scrum.

“At the Bulls we are always striving to be the best and winning trophies, which we’ve done in the last few months. But those trophies are now just in the cabinet and it’s time to focus on the next one. We don’t want to just compete in the Rainbow Cup, we want to win it. Obviously there are going to be new teams that we are playing against so we’ll have to adjust to that.

“We’ve put some emphasis on our scrum but you can’t talk it right, you have to do it right and the only way to do that is with live scrums. We’re trying to sort out some little issues, so we have done a lot of scrumming and the bodies have taken a bit of heat. But we hope to see some improvement in our scrum on the field on Saturday,” Nyakane said.

The Springboks’ humiliating defeat in Durban last weekend was a painful reminder of the gulf in quality that exists between the administration and structure of the game in New Zealand and back here in South Africa, with All Blacks coach Steve Hansen making sure to mention the decision-makers in their rugby when he was asked for the reasons behind their world record equalling run of 17 successive wins.

A solid structure from schoolboys to the Springboks is what is needed for our rugby to remain amongst the best in the world, not yet another overhaul of the national team and their coaches; that’s just treating the symptom, shuffling people around, and does not address the root cause of our problems.

And, as great as next week’s Rugby Indaba sounds – except for the unfortunate two coaches who have their preparations for the Currie Cup final disrupted (another example of Saru’s awful treatment of their flagship competition) – it’s not going to address our real problems either. There might be some good ideas about game plans and what-not, but the coaches and the franchise CEOs do not have the power to change the structural failings in rugby, that lies with the South African Rugby Union and their turkeys who will steadfastly not vote for Christmas.

Below the national sides, there should just be six teams playing fully professional rugby based in the major cities of Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth and Bloemfontein. And those six unions should have the power in South African rugby, not the eight lesser unions, largely amateurish and as relevant as dinosaurs, which are currently the tail that wags the dog.

Below that, all 14 unions can have semi-professional teams, but the amount of money that can be saved by only having six fully professional teams and by eight economically unviable organisations no longer drawing over R20 million a year in Saru grants could go a long way towards keeping our players in the country.

Just like in New Zealand, talented rugby players must fight for a limited number of professional contracts through their performances at club level, that lead to them playing for their provinces and then being chosen for a Super Rugby deal.

The vast majority of schoolboy players in New Zealand don’t become professional rugby players when they finish their education. They go to university and play rugby there, or play for their local club side while working, which is why so many All Blacks have had interesting occupations like lumberjack, piano mover or, as in the case of Aaron Smith, apprentice hairdresser.

It’s a system that builds character and ensures only the fittest and hungriest players survive to reach the top.

Good schoolboy players in South Africa should be lauded in their school hall and with selection for provincial and national schoolboy teams; not with professional contracts and way too much exposure on television.

There is far too great an emphasis on schoolboy rugby in South Africa and that just creates entitled, spoilt players, wastes a lot of late-developing talent, kills our clubs and also gets in the way of transformation in many cases.

This is not to say that our current Springboks and their management are beyond blame. The All Blacks have a relentless drive to improve on and off the field every day, they see every challenge as a means of getting better.

Do our Springboks and their coaching staff have that same hunger? The same desire to do whatever it takes? Because it will also come down to that if they are going to close the gap with the All Blacks.

Any top professional sportsman worth his salt would turn a record 57-15 hammering at home into motivation to lift their conditioning and skills to new levels.

The South African cricket team has just completed an historic 5-0 series whitewash of world champions Australia, with captain Faf du Plessis saying a culture camp they held before the start of the summer has ensured that they are now playing as a team again and, most importantly, are really challenging each other to be better.

Now that’s the sort of indaba that could be useful for our rugby players and coaches, but the administrators still need to make the major, unselfish changes that will really benefit the game in this country.