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The four Welsh clubs will head to South Africa for the resumption of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship eager to salvage some of the pride that was battered by the national team’s unexpected loss to Georgia at the weekend.
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Wales, a week after beating the Argentina Pumas but just a fortnight after a chastening hammering by the All Blacks, who posted more than 50 points against them in Cardiff, lost at home to the Eastern European nation on Saturday, the first time they have done so.
The defeat brought back references to the dark days of Welsh rugby in the 1990s, which featured an almost 100 point demolition at the hands of South Africa in Pretoria in 1998 as well as seismic World Cup loss to Western Samoa.
With the loss to Georgia featuring in the same year as the Welsh lost at home to Italy, there are big questions being asked about not just the Welsh team and the future of national coach Wayne Pivac, but also the state of the club game. Wales did salvage some pride after the Italy defeat that ended a miserable Six Nations campaign by winning the middle test in their three game series in South Africa, their first ever success against the Springboks on South African soil, but the recent sequence of results has edged Wales back towards crisis point.
The Welsh media and ex-players have got stuck into the team, with former Bok World Cup winning wing Bryan Habana, in Wales as a television pundit, joining the fray by suggesting that veteran lock and British and Irish Lions captain Alun Wyn Jones should be recalled to the Wales captaincy.
But many of the post-mortems have gone much further, probing into the state of the club game in Wales. The current international results certainly aren’t out of kilter with what has been happening with the Welsh club teams competing in the URC, with no Welsh team managing last year to get into the top eight of the inaugural competition and because of that there was no Welsh representation in the play-off phase.
A curve ball for the Welsh teams this week is that they will all be traveling to South Africa with key players missing to international duty, with the under-pressure Pivac sure to want all hands on deck as his team prepares to play the final game of the autumn international season against Australia in Cardiff on Saturday.
Australia will have been decimated by injuries and club calls – the game falls outside the international window – but that should make it even more crucial for Wales to get a much needed victory to ease the pressure. Of the 35 players Pivac called up for squad duty at the start of November, 15 players were from the Ospreys, seven from the Scarlets, five from Cardiff and three from the Dragons.
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So the Ospreys, who have the tough task of going to altitude to face the Bulls, will consider themselves to be up against it, and the Scarlets too as they go to Cape Town to face the champions on Friday night.
Fortunately for the Scarlets, the Stormers should be considerably weakened by their representation in the Bok squad that is currently in London preparing for Saturday’s clash with England at Twickenham. John Dobson’s men have though shown signs of impressive growth of squad depth recently and the Stormers might welcome this opportunity to give fringe players a run ahead of a tough December and January that will feature a clutch of crucial derby fixtures over the festive season as well as their entry into the European Champions Cup competition for the first time.
The Bulls don’t have as many Boks these days as either the Stormers or the Cell C Sharks, with the latter team set to be part of a Sunday double header which in addition to their game against Cardiff in Durban will also feature the Emirates Lions against the Dragons in Johannesburg earlier in the afternoon.
Credit: URCSA
Comments on RugbyPass
Super rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
8 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
9 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
8 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
4 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
22 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
4 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
9 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
16 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
16 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
14 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
4 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
5 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
6 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
22 Go to commentsJake White is a brilliant coach and a master in the press. This is another masterclass in media relations and PR but its also a very narrow view with arguments that dont always hold water. White wants his team to win, he wants the best players in SA and wants his team competitive. You however have to face up to the reality of a poor exchange rate and big clubs with big budgets. SA Rugby cant compete and unless it can find more money SA players will keep leaving regardless of Springbok eligibility and this happened in 2015 - 2017. Also rugby is not cricket. Cricket has 3 formats and T20 cricket is where the money is at. When it comes to club vs country the IPL is king but that wont happen because the international calendar does not clash with the club calendar in rugby. So the argument about rugby going down the same path as cricket is really a non-starter
22 Go to commentsNZ rugby seem not to have learnt anything from professional rugby. Super rugby was dying and SA left before they died with the competition. SA rugby did a u turn on their approach to international players playing overseas and such players are now selected for Bok teams. As much as each country would love to retain their players playing in local competitions, this is the way the world is evolving my friends. Move with it or stay 20 years behind the times. One more thing. NZ rugby hierarchy think they are the big cheese. Take a more humble approach guys. You do not seem to have your players best interests at heart.
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