SA Rugby has gagged Springbok coach Jake White, who will not be allowed to grant media interviews until next Monday.
”This is an instruction from SA Rugby,” the organisation’s media manager, Vusi Kama, told Johannesburg morning newspaper Beeld.
In a front-page report on Wednesday, the paper said White arrived in Bloemfontein on Tuesday for the start of the Springbok squad’s training camp in preparation for the first Test against England at Vodacom Park next week, but would not be allowed to grant media interviews.
The first news conference of the week will be held at the team’s hotel on Wednesday.
As far as could be established on Tuesday, Springbok team manager Zola Yeye will be at the news conference. Members of the Springbok team’s coaching staff — White excluded — may also attend, according to the newspaper.
Luke Watson, whose inclusion by management in the squad sparked the latest furore in South African rugby at the weekend, has said in a radio interview that he and White last spoke ”four to five years ago”.
”I think we’ll greet each other in a formal manner: ‘Hello, how are you?’ I hope there won’t be any personal enmity,” the Stormers captain, who was not originally chosen by White, said.
The players selected to attend the training camp will undergo fitness and medical tests at the University of the Free State.
Sixteen players are expected to be sent home on Friday to follow training programmes given to them. It is still not clear whether Watson will be one of them.
White will be the guest speaker at a breakfast at Grey College on Thursday. He is expected to talk about the Springboks’ vision and motivation during World Cup year. — Sapa