The Springboks were once again comprehensively outplayed during their third 2010 Tri Nations encounter, against the Wallabies, in Brisbane over the weekend.

It seems there have been some reports flying around that their is a huge rift behind the scenes of Springbok rugby. Saru have come out with the following statements, following reports of this rift:

The South African Rugby Union (SARU) today moved to dispel rumours of a rift in the Springbok Team Management, that has been reported on in various publications over the last two days.

Andy Marinos, SARU’s National Teams Manager who accompanied the Springboks on the away leg of the Vodacom Tri-Nations, said on Monday any such rumours are unfound and unwarranted.

“I’ve been with the Springboks for almost three weeks now and can categorically state there is no rift in the Management Team,” said Marinos. 

“In my various discussions with Bok coach Peter de Villiers, his assistant coaches Dick Muir and Gary Gold, as well as senior team members John Smit and Victor Matfield, it’s never once come up that there are problems in the camp.

“For three weeks in a row we have not played well and made it harder for ourselves by playing with only 14 players on the field at crucial time during the games, away from home.”

Apart from 11 Springbok players that have been released for Absa Currie Cup duty, the rest of the Vodacom Tri-Nations squad have been given time off and will reconvene next month for the three home Tests – against the All Blacks in Soweto (21 August) and against the Wallabies in Pretoria (28 August 2010) and Bloemfontein (4 September 2010).

The players that have been released to their provinces are:

Blue Bulls:

  • Dewald Potgieter
  • Chiliboy Ralepelle
  • Flip van der Merwe
  • Francois Hougaard

Sharks:

  •  Ruan Pienaar
  • Beast Mtawarira
  • Ryan Kankowski

Western Province:

  •  Gio Aplon
  • Juan de Jongh
  • Francois Louw

Free State Cheetahs:

  • CJ van der Linde

They can release denial statements until they are blue in the face, but it’s clear as daylight that something is seriously wrong with the state of the national setup at the moment. What’s your take on the matter?