There was understandable rage from Sharks bosses over the reckless act that saw Eben Etzebeth red-carded in the Springboks’ final Test of the season, but the leniency and detail of his suspension may have softened some of that anger.
While the Sharks shouldn’t be pleased, they will be going into their important home Champions Cup game against Saracens, as well as their crucial URC derbies that straddle the festive season and the remaining Champions Cup pool games, without Etzebeth, as he was due to take off most of February and March anyway.
The ridiculous 12-month season that South African rugby is on internationally because of commitment to the southern international competition, The Rugby Championship, while the franchises play in the northern hemisphere, means the Boks have to be given eight weeks off during the franchise season.
The franchises don’t play much during the Six Nations window, which is when the rest is usually scheduled, though some games have been moved to February from the Christmas/New Year week. So Etzebeth will probably miss six Sharks games, at most, that he would have otherwise been available for, and not the 12 stipulated in his suspension.
And while the Sharks are intending to ensure he is put to work so he isn’t on a free holiday paid by them during his down period, there is at least the prospect of him returning to action refreshed and more motivated on March 28, when his suspension ends.
So as it turns out, his suspension means Etzebeth is about getting what all South African players should be getting — a proper off-season.
In the Super Rugby era, the Boks ended their season at end-November and returned in March. And that should still be the case, and why I wouldn’t be surprised if some of Etzebeth’s fellow players envy him for being able to take a much-needed break.
The All Black players the Boks will be facing in the Greatest Rivalry Series next August and September — which, by the way, should be the South African off-season, as that is when the northern hemisphere takes a break — are on holiday now. And will be until their preseason training starts again in mid-January.
By contrast, instead of taking a break, the home-based Boks have had to return to duty with their franchises, playing tough URC and Champions Cup games, and the overseas-based Boks, such as RG Snyman, and the Japanese-based players have had to fly back to their bases too.
Which is correct, because their clubs/franchises do pay most of their salaries. But it is not good for South African rugby that this situation continues to persist, and if I had a Christmas wish for the Boks over the festive season, it would be that World Rugby finally sees sense and brings in a global season.
We know it won’t happen because the Kiwis are apparently a major stumbling block, but perhaps South Africa should do more to force New Zealand’s hand on that score. If the South African administration insisted that future Rugby Championships should be played at the same time as the Six Nations, or not at all, surely the rest would follow suit. For what is that competition without the Boks?
Giving players time off during the season doesn’t really crack it, as it must be hard for them to switch off completely when their franchise teams are playing. And a mental switch-off as much as a physical one is surely what is needed.
It used to be that the Cape Town Sevens, played at the weekend, was the ending point of the South African rugby year. A realignment through the inception of a global season won’t necessarily mean that becomes the case again, but there does need to be an ending and a beginning.
At the moment there is no specific moment that you could call a beginning or an end; one season just flows into another, which is unsustainable.
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