S. African Board On Thin Ice

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32350, 16 July 1970, Page 14

S. African Board On Thin Ice

(From T. P. MCLEAN) BLOMFONTEIN. No administration knows butter than the South African Rugby Board how to play things just a little slimly, and the announcement of two Springbok teams for a final trial match at Pretoria next Tuesday perfectly illustrates the point.

The board has decided that as it would be inconvenient for the players in the trials to return to their homes before assembling two days later for the first test with the All Blacks on the following Saturday, the selected Springbok squad shall remain in Pretoria.

Naturally, it will undergo training during that time under the coach (Mr Johan Claasen).

This decision breaches substantially the understanding —which admittedly is not

quite the same thing as a law—of the international board that no nation will assemble its team for an international longer than 48 hours before the kick-off.

To an extent, the New Zealand Rugby Union has sometimes breached this understanding by assembling players on the Wednesday evening before a Saturday test and by defending this on the not unreasonable ground that New Zealand, from a flying point of view, is too risky to leave assembly much later. There was the case a few years ago when some of the players wanted for a match in Dunedin on a Saturday did not reach the city until the Friday afternoon because of aircraft hold-ups, caused by the weather. In 1960, the South African board held its final trial as a curtain-raiser t the All Blacks match with Northern Transvaal, and in spite of some pummelling from the New Zealand manager (Mr T. H. Pearce), adhered to its decision to hold the chosen squad for a week in Johan; nesburg. Two years ago, critics touring with the British Lions acidly remarked on the slim, ness of the board’s manoeuverings. But the board indefatigably battles on. Obviously it believes only one approach is proper to a test match: win it.