The wait is over, the South African rugby administration has decided that the World Cup champions will not defend their Rugby Championship title at the rejigged tournament in Australia next month.
A decision was expected on October 10 whether the Springboks would board the flight to Australia. Initial concerns centred around the match preparedness of the Springboks who, unlike their Australasian counterparts, only started to full-contact play a few weeks ago.
However, it would seem a host of other considerations of a logistical nature is likely to keep the Boks away from the competition that kicks off on November 7.
While the onerous coronavirus regulations won’t stop the Boks flying to Australia, they do impact on practicalities such as mandatory quarantine regulations Down Under.
As coach Jacques Nienaber explained recently, the isolation period implies other complications such as available recovery facilities and access to training resources.
But the real bugbear is how these regulations impact on the contingent of overseas-based players, and specifically their availability for national duty during the so-called Test window period..
Regulated by World Rugby, a number of weeks are cleared to allow international matches to be played. However, the window intrudes on quarantine time limits that, in a worst case scenario, could add up to four weeks to the schedule in Europe.
The upshot is that some of the first-choice Boks would only arrive later in Australia to make things even more difficult for the coaching staff. Given the reshuffling of dates in the Northern Hemisphere, and the coronavirus protocols in Australia, Boks would need to be released for an additional two weeks away. It also means that, in advance of the test on November 7, the Boks would need to start their quarantine on October 17.
If that’s not enough, players who will be living and playing in a bubble, would then be subjected to another dose of quarantine when they return from Australia.
