OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Tuesday 2.00pm
STORMERS and assistant Springbok coach Alan Solomons has blamed the poor showing of South African teams in the Super 12 to regionalisation and the structure of the competition.
Solomons said that the poor results cannot so much be blamed on poor form on the part of the players, but a contant movement of players leading to some provinces suffering a lack of depth as a result.
According to Solomons, players must stay in one region and changing the structure of the regional teams must be avoided. He said that a good example of loss of depth can be found at the Stormers who lost a number of South-Western Districts players to the Bulls.
Solomons said, however, that the Springboks can still do well in the Tri-Nations, and pointed to Super 12 results in 1998 when South African teams did not fare very well, but won the Tri-Nations.
Sevens rugby is also a facet that, according to Solomons, is not viewed with enough attention. He says that the ball and handling skills Sevens rugby imparts are crucial to the expanded format of the game.
Solomons told the Citizen that rugby has also gone through an enormous number of changes with regard to movements, players and travel.
“Specialists have been replaced by all-rounders. Players of today are being subjected to a more stringent away travel programme. They go on the road for months on end which puts South African players at a distinct disadvantage to their Super 12 and Tri-Nations rivals,” Solomons said.