Boks yanked from Currie Cup duty
Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:02
Off to conditioning camp: Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha
The South African Rugby Union confirmed on Tuesday that all the contracted Springboks will undertake a conditioning programme for the next four weeks and will be withdrawn from their Currie Cup squads until October 6.
All non-contracted Springboks are available immediately for their provinces. The arrangement has been made in consultation and with agreement with the players’ contracting provinces.
After a debate surrounding which players would be released to play Currie Cup rugby, the decision was made to remove all the contracted players, whether they played a big part in the Tri-Nations or not.
Blue Bulls lock Bakkies Botha was expected to make his long-awaited return to action this weekend, following his lengthy suspension for headbutting All Blacks scrumhalf Jimmy Cowan, but the Springbok enforcer will have an even longer wait before he sees any game time.
Sharks duo of Bismarck du Plessis and Tendai Mtawarira have been in scintillating form in recent weeks, but will now be pulled out of the Currie Cup even though neither player has played for the Boks this year.
All players have been given a programme by the Springbok conditioning and medical team and will follow this under the supervision of the Provincial conditioning teams and in consultation with Springbok management. The contracted players will report to Cape Town on October 4 for testing.
The conditing is aimed at managing the Springboks carefully, so that they can be at peak fitness at the start of next year's World Cup.
The contracted group will be available for the final round robin stage of Currie Cup matches as well as the semifinals and final.
The following contracted Springboks will undertake the conditioning programme:
Blue Bulls: Victor Matfield , Danie Rossouw, Bakkies Botha, Wynand Olivier, Morne Steyn, Fourie du Preez and Pierre Spies
The Sharks: John Smit, Bismarck du Plessis, Tendai Mtawarira, JP Pietersen and Adi Jacobs
Western Province: Schalk Burger, Jaque Fourie, Bryan Habana, Ricky Januarie and Andries Bekker
Free State Cheetahs: Juan Smith, Heinrich Brüssow and CJ van der Linde