Springboks back training after a nervous 23-hour in-room isolation
South Africa’s preparations for their remaining Rugby Championship fixtures have already suffered a setback, Springboks coach Jacques Nienaber confirming that a single false-positive test for Covid-19 forced his entire squad along with Argentina to stay isolated in their hotel bedrooms for 23 hours and forcing them to cancel their planned Monday training session.
Having played each other twice in the Championship in recent weeks in Port Elizabeth, the Springboks and the Pumas shared a charter flight to Australia from Cape Town last Thursday but their plans to hit the ground running at the start of this week came unstuck when the results of PCR tests taken on Saturday morning highlighted an issue with one South African player.
With Argentina sharing the same Queensland hotel facility with the Springboks, it meant that both squads were confined to their rooms until follow-up testing cleared up the issue to allow both countries to resume their Rugby Championship preparations on Tuesday.
Speaking at a virtually held media conference, Nienaber explained the drama that had unfolded and gave an insight into how restrictive life in quarantine is ahead of South Africa’s next Rugby Championship match, the September 12 game on the Gold Coast versus Australia.
“We arrived here on Friday evening at five o’clock Australian time and then we had our PCR test done the next morning on Saturday – it was about nine o’clock,” explained Nienaber. “The result only came back on Sunday evening and there was a potential positive case so the whole squad had to go into isolation and Argentina.
TRUTH ALERT[?]: ‘Let’s slow the ball down, let’s get off our feet, do whatever we can to make sure our defensive line is stable so we can keep battering’.https://t.co/bhX2Ytl4KZ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 29, 2021
“We were isolated in our rooms for Sunday evening, starting at eight o’clock when the results came out until last night [Monday] just before seven o’clock until that person was retested and blood tests, PCR and antigen tests were done and it was a false positive. With Covid, you can sometimes produce false positives after you have had it. I have spoken to a medical person the other day and if you had Covid you can still produce a positive PCR test up to 90 days after infection.
“It is something that we have seen continuously in the British and Irish Lions series where it happened a few times, a PCR test came back seemingly positive. We were in isolation yesterday [Monday] so today’s rugby session was actually supposed to happen yesterday but due to the fact that we were all in isolation, we couldn’t leave the rooms. We had all our meals and everything in our rooms so we were in proper isolation until the test came back as a false positive and then the ruby programme could continue.”
It was ironic that as Nienaber was speaking, he was interrupted by an announcement on the hotel PA system that the laundry collection service has just started and that the Springboks had to stay in the main building and off the terrace for the next 20 minutes.
“There you get a bit of an idea what isolation is like,” quipped Nienaber, who went on to explain what it was like sharing their quarantine facility with the Pumas. “We are quarantined with Argentina in this awesome facility. We can walk around and be outside of our rooms but, for instance, we can’t go to the swimming pool. You can walk in the open air so you are not just confined to your room but there is no luxury like swimming pools recovery, we can’t go, and nobody is allowed to enter our red zone. Not even the hotel staff.
“We clean our own rooms. Only Argentina players, management and staff and South African players, management and staff are allowed to be in the red zone. How we get our meals, there is what they call an orange zone where meals are prepared and put into a room and then they announce over the PA system the area is now open for the two teams and we go down and dish it up ourselves.
“Meals are served as a collective but there are two eating rooms for each team where we can sit and eat. There is a gym on the premises which we share with Argentina and then there is one rugby field which we also share with Argentina. They have been phenomenal to be with in the red zone. Both sides are trying to make it work.
“There is a lot of compromising from both sides and it’s an open and honest conversation in terms of when we want the gym. We had a programme set out between us and Argentina while we were still in Port Elizabeth and there are small little adjustments in the programme now that there is a third party (involved) in the hotel. That is pretty much how lockdown works.”
Nienaber reported that prop Thomas du Toit returned to South Africa on Tuesday due to a family bereavement while the Springboks will also be without lock RG Snyman, who was unable to make the trip to Australia due to personal reasons.
Three teams of South Africans picked from the Premiership, Top 14 and Japan.
Springboks overseas strength in depth = ?#RugbyChampionship #springbokshttps://t.co/YCMJLTxN0w
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 29, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
excellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
9 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
9 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
9 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
9 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
9 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
41 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to commentsResults probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
1 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
3 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
3 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to comments