OPINION: Sharks again pay the price for heavy player load
· Citizen
It’s a recurring theme in South African rugby, and probably more at the Sharks than anywhere else.
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A gruelling almost-12-month season accompanied by jarring travel schedules for South Africa’s top players, trekking across the world and back home repeatedly, without a significant break like they previously had under Super Rugby.
The result is widespread injuries, leaving local unions bereft of their best players when it counts.
Springbok rest protocols aim to address the need for recuperation, but these are a catch-22 as clubs have to balance rotation with giving themselves the best chance of success.
World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin and SA Rugby president Mark Alexander admit the load is not sustainable. But what is to be done?
In preparing for their crucial match against Ospreys, the Sharks listed 21 players who were unavailable due to injury.
These included the likes of Springboks Aphelele Fassi, Bongi Mbonambi, Eben Etzebeth, Francois Venter, Grant Williams, Jordan Hendrikse, Marvin Orie, Ruan Dreyer, and Trevor Nyakane.
Furthermore, Bok captain Siya Kolisi was rested for one more week, not quite being over his calf injury.
Fifth-choice fullback
The Sharks’ first four choice fullbacks are all injured. Eighteen-year-old Zekhethelo Siyaya was called up after Fassi, Yaw Penxe, Jaco Williams and Luan Giliomee all copped injuries over recent weeks.
The remaining Sharks put up a fight but lost 21-17 in Swansea.
The Bulls likewise played without wingers Stravino Jacobs, Sebastian de Klerk, Kurt-Lee Arendse, and Cheswill Jooste, and saw Bok centre/wing Canan Moodie also replaced with a hamstring niggle during their win over the Dragons.
Their own crisis at wing puts them in a difficult position for the rest of the season.
It’s a difficult pill to swallow for coach Johan Ackermann, who this week warned that the extra fixture of an SA ‘A’ match in June, though welcome for the international exposure it would provide to players, added to the load on players and created logistical issues.
The Sharks were still striving to be optimistic. Coming back from a knee and ankle injury, prop Ox Nché said in January that South African teams simply needed to rotate their squads more to build depth.
Coach JP Pietersen likewise went into the Ospreys clash trying to focus rather on the players he did have available.
But just three weeks before, the former Bok lamented disruptions and player absences. It was an issue that plagued his predecessor, John Plumtree, who once said this “haunting” problem would affect the Springboks if a solution was not found.