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SA Rugby director of rugby Rassie Erasmus during a virtual press conference on September 28, 2020.
Ashley Vlotman / Gallo Images
SA Rugby director of rugby, Rassie Erasmus, said on Monday that it might not be safe for the Springboks to compete in the 2020 Rugby Championship due to lack of playing time.
The world champions are scheduled to play two games each against Argentina, host Australia and their fierce rival New Zealand between November 7 and December 12.
But while New Zealanders have been playing since June and Australians since July, the coronavirus hit South Africa the hardest and the season only reopened last Saturday.
“We had one of the toughest blocks in the world and our players were indoors for months,” Erasmus said at a virtual press conference.
“In other countries players could train or at least go to the park and exercise, but we didn’t have that.
“If you look at science, we have to get players to play five or six games for their own well-being and to make it safe for them, and we are working on how to do that.”
“Players probably need 500 minutes of playing time to be safe,” said Erasmus, the mastermind behind the Springboks’ triumph at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.
The top four franchises played last weekend and there is a Springbok test in Cape Town this Saturday, followed by the start of a national Super Rugby Unlocked competition on October 9.
But the Stormers, who boast eight World Cup champions, have a break in the first round of Super Rugby, so the maximum playing time they can achieve before flying to Australia would be 320 minutes.
For players unaffected by a bye, the total would rise to 400 minutes, still 100 minutes before the goal set by Erasmus and national coach Jacques Nienaber.
Erasmus recognized that there is great pressure on the Springboks to compete for financial reasons, as SA Rugby has been fighting for several years.
The national body posted losses in 2016 and 2017, made small gains in the following two years, and cut the 2020 budget by R1.2 billion due to Covid-19.
“We want to go and we have to (financially speaking), so we are working on how we can do it,” he said.
Australian officials have said competing nations will share the costs and profits of the Rugby Championship, without disclosing any figures.
South Africa won the competition last year, when it was reduced to a single round due to the World Cup, and would face Argentina first if they defend the title.
Meanwhile, SA Rugby said Erasmus will work “remotely” ahead of the Springbok Showdown trial as a precaution against coronavirus.
The former loose striker for the Springboks was diagnosed two years ago with a rare condition that can inflame blood vessels and increase vulnerability to Covid-19.
