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All Blacks v Springboks (Photo by Anthony Au-Yeung / Getty Images)
- It’s not official yet, but it seems increasingly likely that the Springboks will withdraw from the 2020 Rugby Championship.
- The New Zealand Herald reports that the Boks will withdraw due to concerns about the players’ physical conditioning.
- Sport24 understands that an official announcement will be made on Thursday afternoon.
There is no official confirmation from SA Rugby yet, but it seems increasingly likely that the Springboks will officially withdraw from 2020 Rugby Championship.
the New Zealand Herald reported Thursday that the Boks had made the decision through SA Rugby not to participate in this year’s competition amid concerns about the players’ physical conditions.
Earlier this week, governing body Sanzaar gave SA Rugby until Friday to make a call regarding the world champions’ participation in the event.
Sport24 understands, however, that official confirmation from SA Rugby could come Thursday afternoon.
According to the Kiwi publication, “Tournament organizer Sanzaar and Rugby Australia hosts are expected to confirm the retirement of world champions Springboks, reducing the competition of an event from 12 to six rounds and requiring the need for off weekends.”.
Competitive rugby only resumed in South Africa last weekend and Bok head coach Jacques Nienaber has said that he would not normally be in favor of competing at Test level unless his chosen players had played at least 400- 500 minutes.
“I haven’t heard anything,” Stormers head coach John Dobson said Thursday after naming his team to face the Lions in a Super Rugby Unlocked game in Newlands on Saturday.
“Same here,” added Springbok captain Siya Kolisi, selected to lead the Stormers this weekend.
“We haven’t really talked much about it. We will just have to wait for the official statement.
“For now, all that’s important to us is trying to get as many minutes as we can so we can play for the team. It’s not going to change anything for us.”
At Ellis Park, Lions captain Elton Jantjies did not comment when pressed on the matter.
The first match of the South African Rugby Championship was scheduled against Argentina in Brisbane on November 7.
– Compiled by Sport24 staff
