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In New Zealand we have I noted with interest the decision by SARU to withdraw its contracted players from the Currie Cup.

There has been a similar, if not quite so far reaching decision here in New Zealand by the All Black selectors.

11 core members of the side are expected to sit out the rest of the ITM Cup, with other members restricted to a small number of appearances.

Some, like Dan Carter, will be asked to play just one game to gauge their fitness ahead of the end of year tour after coming off injuries. Rather than be taken out en masse, as is the case in SA, they have been treated on an individual basis, but the effect is similar.

It must be frustrating for fans and provincial coaches, but surely player welfare has to be the overriding factor.

As I noted during the Tri-Nations it looked to me as if some of the key Springboks were looking jaded. It’s hardly surprising given the amount of playing time the likes of Victor Matfield and Bryan Habana have had.

I must admit I couldn’t believe it when SARU accepted an invitation to send a team to Cardiff jammed in between Super 14 and the June internationals. I realise that a number of the players they used were offshore based, or not test regulars, but others were.

However game time is not the only factor when it comes to physical and mental fatigue.

I have spoken often to players over the years about their workload, and many of them say it is not necessarily the matches, but the amount of time they spend on the training field. It becomes relentless, and if not managed carefully the players say they can get stale.

It’s up to the coaches to manage that training workload, and bring in variety to keep the players as fresh as possible. It’s easier to do when a team is winning, because training becomes more about keeping everything short and sharp, rather than having to spend ages correcting things that are going wrong.

There have been calls both in SA and NZ to rest players on the upcoming end of year tours, given the importance of next year.

Here in NZ some are asking why bother sending players like Andrew Hore and Sitiveni Sivivatu, who are coming off long injury breaks. Would it not be better to just give them the rest of the year off and let them come back fully refreshed next year?

They won’t of course, because the bottom line is winning, and they don’t want to concede any ground to their rivals ahead of next year.

They fans are also wondering why it is necessary to rest a young player like Sam Whitelock right now, when he hasn’t had a lot of game time, but Graham Henry says he needs some time out and that’s that.

Four years ago the All Black selectors took the radical, and highly controversial step of taking their top players out of up to half of the Super 14 in RWC year.

It was a well intentioned move, but in the end their programme of rest, rehab and reconditioning backfired. The players came back fresh, but the type of gym training they’d done seemed to result in a whole lot of muscle strains throughout the year.

They also jeopardised the hopes of New Zealand teams in Super 14, and while it is debatable, especially after what we’ve seen this year, how much of a link there is between success in Super Rugby and test rugby, I’m sure the all South African final in 2007 provided a massive boost and a great kick-start to the year....a year that ended in World Cup glory.

So this week the All Black selectors sat down with the provincial and Super Rugby coaches to sort out a strategy for next year.

They will be more subtle...they simply won’t get away with dragging a whole bunch of players en masse out of the competition....the public and stakeholders like pay TV won’t stand for it. But with the rather badly timed expansion to a longer Super Rugby competition, it is hoped they will reach agreement whereby the player workloads are carefully managed.

We’ll be fascinated to see what South Africa does. It is a difficult juggling act.