Here is a vivid illustration of how we shoot ourselves in the foot via our unprofessional approach. Really our system is so amateurish it's laughable. We operate at about 70% and hence give away the wolrd number 1 spot to the RAW wee abs!
Spare a thought for Handre Pollard, hero of South Africa’s magnificent win over the All Blacks on Saturday.
From the heights of scoring two tries and crafting a victory over the best side in the world, Pollard will have to return to his provincial base along with several other Boks to play in the remainder of the Absa Currie Cup before heading to Europe with his teammates at the end of the month. (only any guy short of match tiume should have the odd game or two - the sole aim being to get that player up to speed)
The flyhalf prodigy is one of the exceptions that disprove the rule as the Bok management finally won some reprieve for their Springbok players not to be played into the ground before embarking on their next mission.
But Pollard’s situation is one example of how the system isn’t quite flawless, even though the reprieve for the Boks is definitely a step in the right direction.(As noted by Beeno)
While the sponsors and provinces will want to see as many Springboks play in the domestic showpiece, which is understandable, less than a year out from the Rugby World Cup, and after attaining the heights of a win over the World Champions at Ellis Park, Pollard should be given time to reflect, to enjoy the win, and then to focus on his next task for the national team.
Instead he will head back to Loftus today knowing that his season may have a few extra games that he will have to play before donning the green and gold again.
While there is the argument that Pollard would benefit by having the chance to win the Absa Currie Cup, the truth is that he is much more valuable at the moment to the national cause, and with the World Cup looming large, should be managed well.(AS SHOULD ALL THE PLAYERS MEYER IS PLANING TO TAKE TO THE RWC)
SARU have done well to withdraw the contracted players from competitions after the Castle Lager Rugby Championship, but the system is less than perfect.
While it is understandable that players such as Marcel van der Merwe, Trevor Nyakane, Oupa Mohoje, Warren Whiteley, Cobus Reinach and Lood de Jager head back to their provinces as they weren’t regularly part of the match 23 during the international season, Pollard has been the one standout player who has been involved since returning from leading the Junior Boks in the IRB Junior World Championship.
BOK CONTRACT FOR POLLARD?
What makes it even more strange is that the Boks have added the likes of Victor Matfield, Damian de Allende, Jan Serfontein and Cornal Hendricks onto the contracted list during the course of this season, with De Allende in particular who played two tests and then was dropped.
Meyer has consistently said he rated Pollard since schoolboy days and his belief in the youngster was such that he had little hesitation to call him up to the Bok squad on his return from the Junior World Championship and handed him starts in both games against New Zealand this year.
Yet despite this, De Allende was handed a Bok contract and Pollard has been not. (tHE MIND BOGGLES AT THIS!!)
There is little chance of losing the youngster to overseas clubs as he is contracted to the Vodacom Bulls until 2017, but what needs to be decided here is what will be the best course for the player in the development of his career.
It may be that there is a belief that he needs a few Currie Cup games under his belt to continue his development.
Yet Pollard has already played a lot of rugby this year, and the question is rightly whether sending him back to the Bulls – who chose to play both Louis Fouche and Jacques-Louis Potgieter above him this season in Vodacom Super Rugby – is the right decision.
At the end of the day it could well be that Pollard is an anomaly of the agreement, as the best that the Boks could hope for was to withdraw all their contracted players from the Currie Cup.
This means we have a situation where discarded Boks such as JJ Engelbrecht and Coenie Oosthuizen, who have been playing in the competition, have been withdrawn as they have Bok contracts, and Pollard, who needs to be backed at national level, will be forced to play.
Bok contracts were handed out at the end of 2013, and players such as De Allende and Cornal Hendricks were added when they were selected for the Boks in the June test window. At this stage, Pollard was at the Junior Boks and not yet selected for the national side just yet.
It may well be that Pollard does miss out on playing altogether, as he has a foot injury that will rule him out of training for most of the week, but he could be brought back should the Bulls cement their spot in the semifinals of the competition.
But long term would it have not been better to withdraw him from playing and allow him to concentrate on his Bok duties at the national camp in Stellenbosch later this month? While the Boks will be preparing for the end of year tour, Pollard will be training with the Bulls.
C HOAS IS THE WORD THAT COMES TO MIND.
