Bok legends pour cold water on SA Rugby’s Champions Cup player welfare argument

Former Springboks Schalk Burger and Jean de Villiers have raised serious questions about SA Rugby’s main justification for potentially pulling out of the Champions Cup.

While Mark Alexander has repeatedly pointed to player welfare as the reason for the upcoming July review, both Burger and De Villiers believe simply exiting the competition won’t solve the real issues.

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Schalk Burger was typically straightforward while speaking on Boks Unpacked podcast.

"Thinking out loud, what is that going to help our player welfare when there is no clear defined season,” Burger said when asked about the subject.

“You get a week off, a week rest, a week of active training. That's not going to help player welfare.

"I mean that competition [Champions Cup] runs every six weeks for two weeks and it's inline with our current season.

“The issue becomes what happens when we should have offseason which is now post URC...

“To be honest, the whole thing about having holidays is spending time with your friends and family. If you are on your own little break, now you get a week off the kids are at school, your mates are all grafting.

“What do you do in Cape Town, it’s not like you going away. I wouldn't say it will help player burnout or welfare."

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Jean de Villiers agreed that the focus is misplaced.

"They need to sort out the season first, the structuring of competitions before you look at the other elements of it,” De Villiers said.

“I do not think that the data reflects the player welfare that they are pushing. That's a little bit conflicting."

De Villiers believes the real solution lies in better planning.

"Sort out the competitions, make sure the structure of the competitions makes sense for the players and then you can use your squad better so the guys on the fringes play more rugby and they remain in condition and your top players can be managed better."

The debate is sure to rage on for quite a while yet.