2 Springbok Teams

[rowan]

Interesting concept. But will they ever play each other ??

A Rugby president Mark Alexander believes the Springboks could field two separate teams in future that would play in each hemisphere.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with supersport.com, Alexander said the Boks may well find themselves in a position where they play a specific team for each hemisphere in future.

“We play the best teams in Sanzaar week in and out at a high tempo and that is why, If you look at the last World Cup, 1-4 came from Sanzaar, but in Europe there are also good teams competing there. It is good rugby,” Alexander told supersport.com

“We play our rugby in different hemispheres and in the future we can have horses for courses teams, guys who can play on slower pitches and guys who can play on faster pitches.

“We can pick horses for courses, like we do for the Sevens team. We might have that opportunity to pick the fifteens teams like that.”

Alexander spoke on a range of topics, but also talked about the prickly subject of transformation, and whether SA Rugby and its provinces will meet the 2019 target of 50 percent representation.

“I think we will get there. If one looks at our junior teams, our schools team had 53 percent players of colour. If your lower teams don’t have it now, then we will not make it by 2019. Our lower league teams are meeting those numbers, our Springbok team is meeting those numbers,” Alexander added.

“In the latest squad we have 15 out of 31 – hell that is good and we are almost there already. We want teams picked on merit – our Springbok team is picked on merit and we will continue monitoring this process until 2019.”

Alexander also spoke about the spread of players, with 40 percent of the player base coming out of the Eastern Cape and said up north it would take a bit longer.

“Our transformation charter is more than a strategic plan, it’s a survival plan,” Alexander said.

Alexander spoke in defence of the Currie Cup while welcoming the new changes to the Pro14.

“This year was an abnormal year, from next year things will be better structured, the global season will come into play and you will find we have a better structured season where competitions don’t overlap.”

For a more in-depth discussion, click on the clip to watch the full interview https://www.supersport.com/rugby/spring ... _in_future

[Puja]

Frankly, I think that's a ridiculous extrapolation by the article writer from a fairly innocuous interview. He's not talked about having two separate Springbok teams operating individually, but on picking the Springbok team differently and with different aims depending on who they're playing. Not exactly headline news.

Puja

[canta_brian]

They should have picked the other one today, that's fo sho