“A South African player can earn more from a two-month contract in Japan than he can if he were to win the World Cup with the Springboks this year. That's the reality we have to face up to.” - SA Rugby Volume 19, Number 18 23 May 2019 Register to receive your own free weekly newsletter at www.leopardnewsletters.co.za

The 2019 SA Player Exodus Begins

It has become a regular event in South African rugby that clubs from around the world send scouts in search of talent. Lately, it happens at the end of the PRO14 and about halfway through that local stars and some up-and-coming players are offered obscene amounts of cash.

It began with European and Asian clubs targeting our off-season, which meant those players would still be available in their off-season but as the global rugby calendar expanded, that strategy ran into problems. Now the gloves are off and players are signing two-, three- and even five-year contracts. The only thing that’s changing is that the exodus is And, as mere rugby fans, we have no right to getting larger as more players take the opportunities complain. It’s very simple: most rugby players have, presented to them. And those who feel that they have at best, a 15-year professional career. Staying in little chance of playing for the Springboks, may use for the duration will not generate the opportunity to qualify to play for another nation – enough to set a player up in a business or to start a as so many have already. new career after his playing days are over. Names that spring to mind include: WP Nel As SA Rugby said itself in a recent media release: (Scotland), CJ Stander (Ireland), (Italy), “A South African player can earn more from a two- (Scotland), Phillip Eloff (USA), Johan month contract in Japan than he can if he were to van Heerden (Romania), Wimpie van der Walt win the World Cup with the Springboks this year. (Japan), DTH van der Merwe (Canada) and Jaco Otto That's the reality we have to face up to.” (Germany), to name just a few. [Note: The original media release cannot be found To find out who might be next on that outbound because the mental midgets who created SA Rugby’s travelator, check out the SA player exodus in SA new website didn’t bring across the historic content. Rugby mag. However, news organisations such as Reuters reported on it at the time. - Ed]

KEY TOPICS IN THIS NEWSLETTER

A Weekend of Upsets in Super Rugby The Role of Strategy in Modern Rugby The PRO14 2018/19 Comes to a Head SA Players in the PRO14 Dream Team? The 7s Circuit Arrives in London Does Rugby Need More Refs or Fewer Laws?

Page 1 A Weekend of Upsets in Super Rugby The PRO14 2018/19 Comes to a Head

All but one of the matches this weekend could be In the first of the PRO14 semifinals played last called upsets in some way shape or form. It began on Friday night in Glasgow when the home-town Friday morning when the Jaguares beat the Hurricanes Warriors hosted Ulster. It was an interesting match in Wellington, New Zealand: 20-28. But the superb considering the number of players with South performance was trumped a couple of hours later when African roots taking part, some of whom have played the thumped the Rebels in Melbourne. international rugby for other countries.

The trend continued on Saturday when the Blues, who were bottom of the New Zealand conference, secured a bonus point win against the Chiefs, effectively leapfrogging the Waikato side on the table. And a couple of hours later, the Reds lost at home to the Waratahs in a match that could have, should have gone the other way.

Later that afternoon, the Lions nearly let it slip in Johannesburg but kept their heads despite having 23 handling errors (compared to the Highlanders’ 12). For Glasgow, DTH van der Merwe (Canada), Kyle The final score was 38-29 but the home team could Steyn (Scotland) and Oliver Kebble made significant have and should have picked up a bonus point. contributions. On the part of Ulster, Marcel Coetzee, Louis Ludik and Rob Herring (Ireland) took the field. The final match of the weekend was probably the biggest surprise of all, when the the struggling As the final scoreline suggests, the burgled a draw against the champion dominated the contest and simply wouldn’t let the Crusaders at Newlands. The visitors had their Ulstermen into the match. At half-time they were moments but failed to capitalise on the 33 tackles they three tries to the good and 24-3 up. Final score 50-20. forced the Stormers to miss. In the second semifinal on Saturday, the home team, Much of the press after the match was about the Leinster, had no South African links that we could Crusaders try that was denied by an incorrect call of a discern but the opponents, Munster, had three players “forward pass” by one of South Africa’s most with roots here: Jean Kleyn (eligible for Ireland in notorious TMOs: Marius Jonker. All the replays show September). CJ Stander (Ireland) and Arno Botha. unequivocally that the pass was not forward and that abysmal call robbed the Crusaders of a deserved This was a much tighter match with no tries scored in victory. the first half at all as the teams went in with a scoreline of 9-6 to Leinster at half-time. In the second stanza, the home side scored two tries and a penalty to Munster’s solitary penalty, thereby sealing a place in the final with a 24-9 victory.

These results will see the final played in Glasgow this Saturday (19:30) as the Champions Cup runners up travel to Scotland to take on the Warriors. While the Glaswegian team has twice defeated Leinster in PRO14 this season, they did suffer a humiliating exit (55-19) from the Champions Cup at the hands of the Irish team in January. Should be a fascinating match.

Page 2 Page 3 Upsets Galore this Weekend in the SRC The 7s Circuit Arrives in London

Until this past weekend, the 2019 SuperSport Rugby This weekend will see the penultimate round of the Challenge was largely devoid of upsets but that all World Rugby Sevens Series take place in London, changed on Friday night when the England. The Blitzbokke lie in fourth on the series went down to the Sharks (29-28). The trend continued table (on 121 points), trailing the USA by 24 points on Saturday when the were thumped at and also behind Fiji (141) and New Zealand (130). home by the Pumas (33-51) and the were This means that the chances of the reigning hammered in Kimberley by Griquas (38-17). champions defending the title they won in each of the last two years, are remote, at best. The Free State restored some semblance of normality when they thrashed SWD Eagles (64-17) Even if the teams ahead of the South Africans were and Western Province followed that up by defeating to stumble badly, that would probably not be enough. the Zimbabwe Academy 33-13. All three would have to fall flat on their faces AND the Blitzbokke would have to win in London and a week later in Paris. That’s highly unlikely.

Nevertheless, Neil Powell’s team will be relishing the contest and very keen to win two more gold medals to finish a challenging season on a high note. While not at full strength, the squad will welcome back two previously injured players, both of whom have made a mark this year: JC Pretorius and Muller du Plessis.

Both last played in Vancouver and were named in that tournament’s Dream Team after the Blitzbokke In the Sunday derby at the Impala Rugby Club in secured their first gold medal of the season in Rustenburg, Griffons beat the Namibian Welwitchias Canada. More good news is that regular captain, (34-24) in what was a tight match until about the last Philip Snyman, will travel with the squad as the quarter. The later match at that venue saw a thriller in thirteenth player in both London and Paris and may which the lead changed hands several times before the be called upon if someone is injured. Valke suddenly had a 23-point lead with ten minutes to play. In London, Powell’s charges are drawn to play in the pool stages on Saturday against Japan (12:20), To their credit, the Leopards fought back to score three Canada (15:26) and Argentina (18:32). If they win all converted tries to end a heart-breaking two points three encounters, they’ll emerge top of the table and down (50-52). The final match of the weekend was at then will probably face either Australia, Spain or the Wolfson Stadium outside PE, where the EP Wales in a Cup quarter-final. But if they stumble and Elephants pummelled the Border Bulldogs (52-3). This drop a game, they could face USA in the last eight. weekend will see six matches on Saturday:

Western Province vs EP Elephants SWD Eagles vs Boland Cavaliers Namibian Welwitchias vs Leopards Zimbabwe vs Pumas vs Griquas Sharks vs Border Bulldogs

And on Sunday, at Bosman Stadium in Brakpan, Blue Bulls face Golden Lions and Valke take on Griffons. Remember, entrance is free-of-charge so make your way to Brakpan if you’re in the area.

Page 4 Page 5 The Role of Strategy in Modern Rugby SA Players in the PRO14 Dream Team?

There’s a fascinating analysis by Ben Smith [the rugby By the time you read this, the announcement will writer, not the All Black - Ed] on RugbyPass.com that have been made as that’s due to happen on Thursday exposes how Exeter Chiefs coach, Rob Baxter, turned 23 May and we had to put the newsletter out on his team into regulars in the top two of the English Wednesday night to meet our weekly deadline. Premiership.

According to Smith, Baxter’s machine keeps on moving forward, with Exeter finishing as the Premiership’s top side after the regular season. “They have maintained their status as one of the Premiership’s top two sides in part by continuing to innovate, changing not only the parts in the system but the system itself,” he adds.

“The Chiefs have a roster largely still constructed around players from the 2016-17 Premiership side, but have filtered in key pieces like Nic White, Matt At the time of writing, a number of SA players had Kvesic, Sam Simmonds, and Santiago Cordero over been nominated for the PRO14 Dream Team the last couple of seasons. 2018/19. If you want to know if any of them made it, we suggest going to the PRO14 website, “Whilst it would be tempting to plug those pieces into a system that has been proven, the pace of change and The way the process works is that a panel of over 75 copycat nature of professional sport means that media members are invited to take part in voting. The widespread adoption becomes the norm pretty quickly. group includes many former players and coaches What was unique yesterday is everywhere today. Most alongside some of the most trusted and respected teams employ the similar phase play structure the rugby writers from across the UK, Ireland, Italy and Chiefs have used with great success over the last few South Africa. years, although each team has varying degrees of After the voting had closed, three nominees had been execution. identified for every position and one of them will “To stay at the top you have to evolve, be prepared to make the Dream Team. You can find a full list of the change before you become outdated. So, what have the nominees on the PRO14 website but the ones in Exeter Chiefs done to evolve?” whom you’re most likely interested are those with roots in SA: The rest of Smith’s excellent piece unpacks exactly how Baxter and his team achieved their success and Loosehead Prop: (Edinburgh) suggests some of what may still be to come. It’s long Hooker: Rob Herring (Ulster) but a worthwhile read. Tighthead Prop: WP Nel (Edinburgh) Openside Flanker: Braam Steyn (Benetton) No 8: Marcel Coetzee (Ulster) & CJ Stander (Munster) Scrum-Half: Dewaldt Duvenage (Benetton) Fly-half: (Edinburgh) Left Wing: Rabz Maxwane (Toyota Cheetahs)

Page 6 Does Rugby Need More Refs or Fewer Laws?

Regular readers will know that this newsroom has More than one rugby analyst has taken to social media long argued for fewer, simpler laws precisely to express their dismay at that error. One only has to because the individuals chosen to referee most look at Oom Rugby’s useful video clip with a line rugby matches appear so completely unsuited to the parallel to the half-way line superimposed to see the task. While our stand on the matter is quite clear, truth of that. those of two respected rugby columnists are not, or rather, were not. But this is not the first and it certainly will not be the last this Super Rugby season, nor, indeed at the World Tank Lanning and Zelím Nel faced off in “The Big Cup, given the bunch selected to officiate at that Debate” on the subject last week on tournament. AllOutRugby.com. The results and suggestions may surprise you as they did us. Which brings up an interesting point: complaints about the referees are most often heard in the southern hemisphere rather than the north. Although it must be said that French match officials are the most common exception – and there are FOUR of them travelling to the World Cup in Japan and a fifth who will run touch lines as an assistant referee.

To make matters worse, the idiot who ruled that pass forward on Saturday at Newlands is one of four TMOs appointed for RWC 2019. When we last mused about the subject, we wondered why the consistently excellent Rasta Rasivhenge had not been selected. But, in retrospect, perhaps he’ll be thankful not to have his stellar reputation tainted by what is sure to happen in And while we urge you to click through to read Japan later this year. their thoughts in full – along with the reader’s comments that follow, many of which are Getting back to the subject of The Big Debate, which extremely interesting. What’s most interesting triggered this thought process, readers may wonder if about the piece is that it appeared BEFORE the World Rugby will take any notice. History reveals that Crusaders were robbed of a win by an incompetent the answer to any such question is almost certainly not. TMO call at Newlands. There appears to be a reality-immune bubble around World Rugby headquarters in Dublin, Ireland.

Page 7 For your weekend viewing pleasure

As we note on page four, this weekend is the penultimate round of the World Rugby Sevens Series in London. All the pool games are on Saturday during the day while the knockout rounds are on Sunday.

There is also the usual Super Rugby (schedule alongside) fare with seven matches taking place – only the Hurricanes have a bye.

Elsewhere, there are only two matches in the English Premiership on Saturday but the full seven clashes in the French , all kicking off at 16:15 on that day. Later that night is also the PRO14 final in which Glasgow Warriors entertain Leinster (see page two). And on Sunday there are three US MLR matches.

And back home, there’s a full house of SuperSport Rugby Challenge matches planned for the weekend, ending another double-header on Sunday, this time at Bosman Stadium in Brakpan. Entrance is free so if you’re in Joburg, the East Rand is calling you.

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