SA teams must learn to 'double up' the European way
For players in Europe to feature in 200 to 300 matches for their domestic teams is not uncommon. To most South Africans that is a foreign concept.
However, with the move north and entry into the United Rugby Championship, SA players now suddenly find themselves playing three matches in a week.
Bulls and Springbok back Lionel Mapoe said it now places the onus on players to preserve their bodies, because the demands on teams’ resources have increased dramatically.
Mapoe is one of 15 Bulls players who will feature in three matchday squads in eight days – having been started at outside centre in the 29-24 win over Munster last Friday, also played with a No.13 on his back in the 35-21 win over the Sharks this past Wednesday and will play off the bench against the Scarlets on Friday.
Others who will have featured in all three matchday squads on Friday are Kurt-Lee Arendse, Cornal Hendricks, Harold Vorster, Madosh Tambwe, Chris Smith, Elrigh Louw, Arno Botha, Ruan Nortje, Walt Steenkamp, Jacques van Rooyen, Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp, Morne Steyn and Canan Moodie.
Mapoe brushed off the workload as being an issue.
“That is what we sportsmen do for a living,” the 33-year-old said, adding: “We have to double up if it is required of us.
“The coaches can call on us any time, so it is important that our bodies hold.”
He pointed to their URC rivals, who compete in several competitions in Europe as well.
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“That’s the thing, you get these guys overseas playing more than 200 or 300 games for their clubs and you wonder where these guys rack up all these games.
“This is exactly how it goes.
“As South Africans, we need to start getting used to playing weekday and weekend games.
“It is also something that will leave the onus on us to take care of our bodies.”
The Bulls are expecting to face a charged-up Scarlets team, who, despite a defeat, put up a good fight against the Sharks this past weekend.
“There is no easy game in the URC,” Mapoe told a virtual media briefing.
“They are obviously missing a few players to international games.
“We are going to have to be at our best on the day,” the 14-times capped Bok added.
“They’ve been here for over a week now and will prepare well for us.
“This, for us, will also be a game we want to win, a game that is very important for our campaign.
“It is then vital for us to put in a good performance come Friday.”
Despite the satisfactory win against Munster in their previous outing, the Bulls are wary that they let their guard down in the second half of the match and will need to improve on their overall game this weekend.
“In the Munster game, we were obviously happy with the result, but not entirely happy with the overall game. We knew we needed to put them away,” Mapoe reflected.
“I think we let ourselves down, especially in that second half.
“We sort of went into a period where we tried not to lose the game instead of playing our normal game, but those are work-ons we will need to go through.
“Obviously, the overseas teams coming this side will always find it difficult to play here at high intensity for 80 minutes.
“Credit to Munster, they did it pretty well to keep themselves in the game. Where we felt we could have done better, we found ourselves taking the foot off the pedal in that second half.”
