COMMENT BY DEAN CLOETE
FOR someone who really loves rugby, I am relieved that there is no local action this weekend and I’m pretty sure some of the players feel that way as well.
Never thought I’d admit it to myself, wat nou nog om te sê saying it out loud, but I’m getting gatvol of the game.
Just this past weekend the Stormers played Ireland’s finest rugby team Leinster, a week after playing against Racing 92 in Paris and I preferred doing the dishes to actually watching the game. The main reason for this is overkill - a lack of excitement and a general dullness.
Sometimes I want to pinch myself just to make sure that I’m not in the middle of a rugby nightmare, but then I go to bed and I wake up in the middle of the night struggling to tie my boot laces to take the field for the last few minutes of the match.
Other times I struggle to get away from the opposition, despite having sidestepped them. See, I do have REAL rugby nightmares. That’s how deeply I care for the sport.
There are times that my dreams are lekker and end in me scoring the match-winning try or making an awesome run. I then wake up longing for the days of my youth and realise some of my happiest moments were on the rugby field.
I used to watch enige match - even those mid-morning ones in New Zealand.
But South Africa’s European dream is my rugby nightmare. They overkilled it.
I mean, it’s January now and in the Super Rugby days we would have just gotten ready for southern hemisphere action after the boys had a decent pre-season following the December holidays.
Maar deesdae speel die manne sommer oor Kersnaweek ook. Not on.
Rugby is now being played year-round and I’ve had my fill already. Pre-season is not just there for the players to get fit and ready for the next term, but there for fans to get honger for the next season
It’s then when you plot and plan who your team is going to sign to strengthen the team for the next term.
Nowadays, a signing hardly gets noticed because it happens while the games are coming thick and fast.
That is my first beef.
Secondly, to be honest, if you’re going to send a B team to France to play Racing 92 (like the Stormers did two weeks ago) in what is effectively a must-win match to reach the playoffs of the Champions Cup, then do you really want to play in the tournament?
I get that travelling and overplay are obstacles and you need to manage your squad, but this is the EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP! It’s BIGGER than the United Rugby Championship, or so I thought until teams started playing their fringe players in the tournament.
So here I am, longing for the days when the Crusaders made the trip to Cape Town, when we went down to face the Blues in Auckland.
Furthermore, I’m really getting the sense that it’s not just fans that feel these year-round rugby games are too much, but the players also.
I’ve said it before and I will say it again, South Africa should not be playing in Europe - especially if our teams aren’t going to treat the tournament with respect.
New Zealand rugby, too, has been sukkeling without our teams in Super Rugby.
So here’s the thing, is there still a chance that we could go back to Super Rugby?
If not, then surely the rugby bosses must come up with a proper plan for the Club World Cup.
According to a report on ESPN last year,the tournament will kick off in 2028 and will have “the top eight sides from the European Rugby Champions Cup… as well as six Super Rugby teams plus two others, likely from Japan, will compete in the competition.”
No other European teams?
Come on, maak ‘n regte plan... until then, I’m happy to mow the lawn, fix a shoe or scrub the floors on Saturdays.