For many South Africans, one of the biggest reasons to get excited about the Six Nations kicking off over the weekend was that it heralded a bit of a break for our own players. One whole weekend without any South African teams in action… And those playing for the Sharks and Lions are not even in action this weekend either. Talk about spoiled! Not that we don’t miss seeing them play. If they were, in fact, robots, I’m sure we’d be happy to watch them play every weekend, never worrying about injuries or burnout. But alas…
Once upon a time, the months of December and most of January would stretch out before us, a seemingly endless vista of sunny skies and braais, but with no rugby in sight. Players would get to have a proper rest, recovering fully from the brutal hits they’d taken over the past season, and spending quality time with friends and family. In turn, the fans could use that time to recover from any emotional hits we’d taken over the course of the rugby year, and perhaps reconnect with the people in our lives who oddly enough don’t care about the game. It may have left us a little restless, and counting the days until the next season kicked off, but it was a necessary pause.
Now, much like the pause has been removed from the scrum engagement process, the off season seems to have been largely removed from the South African rugby calendar. And while we may want to speed up the game by getting the scrum set more quickly (a debate for another day), there are few advantages to playing rugby all year round. From a fan perspective, it’s possible that we have taken away some of the hype and feeling that getting to go to a game is not an everyday occurrence, leading to some of the low attendance we’ve seen. Coaches are caught up in an endless juggling act of multiple simultaneous tournaments, and a roster of players that need to be spread across them, while still taking their mandatory rest periods, and being available for Springbok duty. More importantly, in terms of player welfare, it seems unlikely to be a coincidence that local franchises are now wielding injury lists so long that they could almost form a new team sheet on their own.
In June 2024, an agreement was reached that all South African players would receive structured eight-week rest periods, taken consecutively for the most part. While it was initially decreed that all franchises should implement those rest periods at the same time, ultimately, it was decided to individualise each player’s rest period instead so that the Currie Cup could continue as planned. Of course, for some players, this is easier to manage than for others, depending on the level at which they’re involved. When it comes to the Springboks, they are managed slightly differently, and those eight weeks are not taken consecutively. How much meaningful rest time does that really equate to, then, especially if players are trying to maintain full fitness so they don’t get accused of spending too much time at the buffet while on leave?
So, what is the solution? There are no easy answers, unfortunately. When COVID hit, and South Africa was forced to move north, the wheels for this situation were set in motion, and it’s very hard to apply the brakes now. There are a few alternatives to consider, though.
The first of these is the global calendar. It’s what many fans have been clamouring for. It would require aligning the calendars of the northern and southern hemisphere competitions, and as much as I love the idea, I just wonder what the chances are of it ever coming to fruition. I struggle to envision any of the major governing bodies agreeing to move their major competitions to better suit someone else’s needs, but perhaps I will be pleasantly surprised in the future. This would certainly be the best answer, so we live in hope.
Perhaps a more realistic solution is that we accept the 12-month calendar, but really lean into player development and building depth. I think we did see some of that last year, but people start to panic when teams lose, and then coaches revert to bringing in their stars, relegating the youngsters to the sidelines again. It goes without saying that the only way to build depth is to actually let young players play. That doesn’t mean throwing a team of 23 inexperienced players to the wolves, but it does mean accepting that there may be games we lose, especially during those initial periods of growth. One thing we are not starved of in SA rugby is talented players, so there’s really no excuse not to be building strong enough rosters to compete across multiple tournaments while not playing the same guys into the ground. Keep the URC players out of the Currie Cup, and use it as a talent pipeline – an approach some teams tried to take last year, only introducing URC players as a part of their pre-season prep, or because of injuries. Filter that talent through into the URC and European competitions, and give those players meaningful game time too, allowing more senior players to rest as needed. This requires coaches to determine which games are a priority, something the South African teams have taken some flak for in the past, but honestly, it’s what the French have always done – and they are arguably the most successful club rugby nation in the world, so hey, why not emulate some elements of their approach (if we could have their budgets too, life would be peachy). It also requires fans to stop complaining about not getting to see the Springbok stars featuring in every game, and to buy into the idea that we may have to break a few eggs to make the perfect omelette. Or something.
If all else fails, perhaps we need to pick a hemisphere and stick to it. The question is, which hemisphere? Do we stay in the north, sticking with the URC and European contests, and finding a way to join the Six Nations? Or do we stay in the Rugby Championship and return to Super Rugby? Obviously, when it comes to time zones, staying in the north makes sense, and the travel situation will improve once we become shareholders in July 2025, and can start paying for some direct flights. Not to mention putting some of the players in business class and premium economy. But joining the Six Nations? It’s a hard no from me (and most Six Nations fans). I would honestly hate that with the fire of a thousand suns. For so many reasons, not least of which the fact that I believe our rugby identity would suffer, and so would our skillset if we were no longer playing the All Blacks, in particular, but also Australia and Argentina, with the regularity afforded by the Rugby Championship. In the same way that many Super Rugby players from New Zealand and Australia have decried the loss of games against our teams in that contest, I think we would feel the same loss if we were no longer in the Rugby Championship, and potentially on a bigger scale, given the level up associated with Test rugby. So, if we had to choose a hemisphere, I’d return to Super Rugby in a heartbeat before seeing the Springboks in the Six Nations, even though I know that’s not a popular opinion.
I have also seen some suggest we should start a local competition – obviously this is generally suggested by fans (predominantly from the north) who have never heard of the Currie Cup, one of the oldest domestic rugby tournaments in the world. We could do that, but that would quickly become an echo chamber, as we saw during the pandemic. We have always tested ourselves, and strengthened our structures, by playing against teams from outside our own borders. We may also have no players left after a very short while, if the injury lists after intense local derbies in the current contests are anything to go by. But what about broadening that premise, and creating an African contest? While I think it would be great to see more games between SA teams and teams from other countries in Africa – and we do include such teams in the Currie Cup First Division when possible – it would be a long time before such a contest would be competitive enough to be of value to our primary franchises.
It's a tricky one, and ultimately, I don’t know what the solution to a disappearing off season is. But if we care about our players at all, we have to find one.
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