Ken Borland

For the Springboks to remain a top-class side, they have to be a flexible team with a capacity for thinking on their feet, coach Jacques Nienaber said on Friday as he outlined his vision ahead of his first assignments in charge against Georgia and the British and Irish Lions.

The world champions have not been in action since winning the World Cup in November 2019 meaning Nienaber, who was appointed as the successor to Rassie Erasmus in January last year, will oversee the Springboks for the first time when they warm up for the Lions series with two Tests against Georgia on July 2 and 9.

But with Erasmus, now the director of rugby, saying winning the series against the Lions will be like winning the World Cup, the focus is firmly on those three Tests between July 24 and August 7.

“The Lions have a well-balanced squad which can play both types of rugby. So that means we will have to be adaptable and solutions-driven during the match, and that’s how we are trying to coach. At the World Cup, during the knockout rounds, we had to play a certain style of rugby against Japan, moving them from side-to-side. It was about breaking down their style and imposing ours.

“Against Wales it was the complete opposite and then England posed something completely different in the final too. Part of the alignment camps has been about telling the players which are the critical areas of play that we need to get up to the required standard. We’ve been drip-feeding them bits of the game-plan as well,” Nienaber said on Friday.

While a series of such importance as the Lions playing the world champions is unlikely to produce sexy rugby, Erasmus said he does believe the tourists will have the ability to play quite expansively and at a high tempo.

“The players they have chosen won’t have any influence on our selection coming up next weekend, but if you look at the Lions squad, it’s fairly evenly spread between the four countries. Scotland have provided the most backline players, and Gregor Townsend [Scotland head coach] is the attack coach, while there are only three England backs. But the forwards are mostly from England and Wales.

“Most of the coaching staff have also worked with Warren Gatland before, Townsend is the only guy who hasn’t. I think they’re going to bring a mix, it won’t be like playing against Wales where whoever grinds the hardest wins. They have a fast, quick pack, just looking at their mobile props and if someone like Courtney Lawes plays at lock,” Erasmus said.

South Africa’s director of rugby Rassie Erasmus said on Friday that the British and Irish Lions tour is special because so much else in the sport has lost its sparkle. The rugby landscape used to be like a tastefully decorated room with a few classic furnishings; now it has become a gaudy space covered in floral chintz and kitsch.

But Erasmus, who made his Test debut in the final match of the 1997 Lions tour, and Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber were clearly like kids on the night before Christmas on Friday when they unveiled their planning for the epic series against the best of Britain and Ireland, with the South African squad confirmed to be announced next Saturday.

“It was really special to play my first Test in the third match of that series, but I was 24 years old and maybe didn’t understand as much how special it was. The players get it now: playing against the Lions is a rare, special thing. There are a lot of things in rugby that are not special anymore because we have so many different matches now.
“So it’s going to be fantastic to have the Lions here, even with no crowds. It only happens every 12 years, it’s like a World Cup final and we nearly missed out on it because it couldn’t be postponed, that would have messed up the whole schedule for overseas countries for the next 10 years. So we would rather have it with no crowds than not have it, we were even willing to play anywhere in the world,” Erasmus said on Friday.
While SA Rugby will continue efforts to have some spectators allowed at the games, Erasmus said they were mindful of ensuring they do the right thing.
“We’re preparing as if there will be no crowds, which will have a massive effect on how it feels at the ground, in terms of home advantage and on the way we communicate. But most of the players have exeprienced this before.
“We are trying really hard to have crowds allowed, but we are also very serious about following the government regulations. Hopefully government can see that we are reliable and supportive and maybe things will change. Even 25% capacity in one of the big stadiums would be a good crowd,” Erasmus said.
The director of rugby confirmed that the entire Springbok squad and management would be vaccinated against Covid-19 before going into a had bubble for the series.

South Africa’s director of rugby Rassie Erasmus on Friday confirmed that next Saturday, June 5, will be the day when the 45 lucky South African rugby players who get to play the British and Irish Lions will be announced.

That enlarged squad will go into a hard bubble together and will see their first action nearly a month later in the first Test against Georgia. The initial group will also comprise the 23 players that will represent SA A against the tourists in Cape Town on July 14. The squad will then be cut to 35-37 players ahead of the first Test against the Lions on July 24.

Both Erasmus and Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber said they were heartened by having plenty of talent to choose from.

“In a way we are lucky to have players all over the world because our players in South Africa have just been playing against each other. But a guy like Jasper Wiese has done really well for Leicester, Rynhardt Elstadt and Cheslin Kolbe won the European Cup with Toulouse and Damian de Allende has been doing really well at Munster. We also have wonderful young talent locally, so we look pretty okay,” Erasmus said.

“Three players from the World Cup squad have retired and Lood de Jager, RG Snyman and Warrick Gelant are touch-and-go with injuries, but the rest are all in the running. The Tests against Georgia fall within the international window and we’ll have other goals against them but we still need to perform and win,” Nienaber added.

“There’s been a joint effort from the referees, coaches and players to get as much ball-in-play time as possible in our local rugby and there has been a massive improvement from the Currie Cup. We were a bit worried but comparing the figures to the Premiership and the Pro14, there’s good parity now and we are really happy.”

Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka this week announced she will be boycotting media conferences at the French Open next week, behaviour I think is most unbecoming. For the benefit of the many people who have harangued me for this view on social media, here’s why: She has a duty to help publicise the game that has made her the richest sportswoman in the world. I know TV coverage of her matches does that to a large extent, but the media conferences afterwards are like resales – they reach different markets and provide the opportunity for a more in-depth look at her performance, they provide the flesh on the bones.

The vast majority of sportspeople I have interviewed acknowledge that they have a responsibility to give back to the game that has given them so much, and that’s even the megastars. For any sport, the importance of marketing their product cannot be overstated and Osaka should perhaps consider the hefty prizemoney now on offer in women’s tennis and the media’s role in providing the exposure that attracts the investment of sponsors and broadcasters, as well as the eyes and ears of fans.

Sure, many press conferences are tedious affairs involving recycled questions; a bit like a 6-1 6-0 result in tennis. But the responsibility to fulfil media obligations is written in the WTA rulebook. And the WTA is actually the players’ organisation that runs tennis, so it is the players themselves who have agreed to these rules.

Except for Osaka, who feels the ground rules don’t apply to her. Perhaps she has become so famous and wealthy, ironically partly thanks to the exposure given to her performances and increasingly outspoken views on politics by the media she is now snubbing, that she believes she is special enough to operate under a different set of rules. The 23-year-old Osaka won’t be the first nor the last rich kid to lose touch with reality when incredible wealth is at their disposal.

Osaka’s reason for boycotting press conferences, according to her statement, was to protect her mental health. For a tremendous champion who has won all four of the Grand Slam finals she has appeared in, the suggestion that she has a fragile temperament floors me.

Sure, some questions asked at tennis press conferences range from the idiotic to the extraordinary to the downright disgusting, but they are easily handled by a “no comment” or by the facilitator exercising better control of proceedings.

Osaka said press conferences were like “kicking a person while they are down”. Sure, having to be interviewed straight after a defeat could lead to a lot of emotions – whether it be anger, frustration, heartbreak or dismay – being made public and perhaps competitors should be allowed a bit more time to compose themselves before having to face the media.

But it is a fact of elite sport that you have to take the losses along with the wins, the plaudits with the brickbats. Every high performance sportsperson deals with this, it is part of the game. And by all accounts, Osaka has always been an engaging, interesting interviewee.

It makes me angry that Osaka would hide behind an issue as important as mental health. And for those who say she is somehow taking action on behalf of many other tennis players who feel the same way, her statement contains 13 references to ‘I’ and ‘Me’ and just one mention of ‘we’re’.

Sorry, but Osaka’s decision smacks of sheer entitlement. She is refusing to follow a regulation that applies to all her fellow competitors, simply because paying a fine of $20 000 a day is hardly a dent in her purse. It is just selfish.

Perhaps the fact that she has never advanced past the third round at Roland Garros has more to do it with than any mental health concerns.