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Grand Slam tour 'complicates' planning - Smit
The Springboks' hopes of achieving a Grand Slam at the end of the year may complicate the planning process for the road to the World Cup.
Bok captain John Smit admitted on Friday that the players were torn between the desire to be part of a Grand Slam tour and the need to rest ahead of the World Cup next year in New Zealand.
Smit has admitted the team has not decided its plans for the rest of the year, but it is obvious that some senior frontline players desperately need some rest before the showpiece tournament next year.
The need for the Boks to be fresh both mentally and physically cannot be underestimated, especially considering the fact the Bok management themselves admit a break is needed.
Coach Peter de Villiers said many of the senior players had played more than 2 200 minutes of rugby, far above the ideal 1 400-1 600 per season which they should be playing.
But while it is evident the Bok management want the players to rest and not undertake the end-of-year tour, Bok lock Victor Matfield threw a spanner in the works when he said he wanted “to play 10 more games” if he had the chance.
The planning meeting will now only take place after the Tri-Nations where the Boks will discuss what they need to do to successfully defend their crown.
PLAYER DEPTH
Smit said the issue was complicated, but believes there is enough depth if some players are rested for the tour.
“It certainly complicates the planning and not something you want to give up easily,” Smit admitted.
“But saying that, if you wanted to rest two or three guys, it wouldn’t be saying we’re not having a crack at it. As much as this year hasn’t worked out as we wanted it to, we’ve identified a number of youngsters who will turn out to be great Springboks one day.”
The Bok captain admitted he was in the dark about the way forward, as there had not been much discussion about the future because of the poor Tri-Nations campaign the team had.
“It’s always a tricky thing. To be honest, we haven’t spent too much time on that, it has been a disappointing Tri-Nations to say the least.
“Our focus has been pretty much week for week. I’m sure the planning will come in the next couple of weeks for what is coming at the end of year tour in terms of the road to next year’s World Cup.”
“At the moment we had to focus on what is coming and that is Saturday’s test match. When it comes to planning what you want to do with a group of players, it is very difficult to net a group of players. You have to look at each individual and see what he has done and see what needs to be done.
“You need to see if they have too much or too little, how old they are, how young they are. I think that planning will start taking place as soon as we finish the Tri-Nations.”
