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`Bok coach calls on Super 14 coaches to be reasonable

Springbok coach Jake White gives instructions after a rugby Test match at Twickenham on Nov. 25 last year. PHOTO: AFP

Springbok coach Jake White is relying on South Africa's Super 14 coaches to make sure key players are in condition for the rugby World Cup.

Unlike New Zealand and Australia, whose national rugby coaches will oversee restrictions on playing time in the Super 14 for their best players, White was leaving those decisions to the coaches of the Bulls, Cheetahs, Lions, Sharks and Stormers.

"There is no such thing as me saying to them they must rest certain players and only play him for a certain number of games," White told the South African Press Association on Monday.

"The reality this year is that there are 13 Super 14 games [excluding the semi-finals and final]. If a guy plays the whole Super 14 and makes the final, the next Saturday we play England, followed immediately by another Test against England, Samoa, and then the Tri-Nations against Australia and New Zealand," White said.

"It's not rocket science that if a guy plays the whole season that by the time he gets to the World Cup he is going to have nothing left to perform. That's why the decision was taken to rest players on last year's end-of-season tour," he said. "My message to the coaches is to please be honest and fair to the player that you know will go to the World Cup and make sure you give him the opportunity to perform in the World Cup."

The Super 14 starts next week and ends in mid-May.

White met with the five Super 14 coaches and four members of the South African union's presidents council, including vice president Mike Stofile, on Sunday in Johannesburg, and all promised to assist White when he needs it.

"Those people have a right to be there from a custodian point of view," SA Rugby manager of national teams Andy Marinos said.
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