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Claassen, who captained South Africa during the New Zealand ‘Rebel Tour’, believes that traveling to Australia to compete in the Rugby Championship will not be in the best interest of the Springboks, and instead they should focus on preparing for the tour of the British and Irish Lions next year.
He fears that if they come to the tournament ill prepared, it could damage all the hard work they have done over the past three years to rebuild their reputation.
“I honestly think they shouldn’t play in the Championship – it just doesn’t make any sense to me,” Classen told the South African newspaper. The citizen.
“If you think that New Zealand and Australia have been playing their national rugby for the last two months and our rugby has not yet restarted, we would definitely be ill-prepared.
“What will happen if we give away 50 points to New Zealand again, as happened in 2016 and 2017? Who will be blamed?
“We have the most to lose playing in the Championship. We must remember that we are the World Cup champions, the world’s number one team and the Rugby Championship champions.
“You have to understand that due to COVID-19 we have not been able to restart our local game but it is what it is and we just have to move on and forget about this year’s Rugby Championship.
“SA Rugby must take a stand and decide what is best for the ‘Boks and their legacy. Yes, money talks, but it’s not all about money – there are many more factors at play.”
