Rassie allays 20/20 concerns
24 Jun 2010
Rassie Erasmus says the IPL-styled rugby competition won’t contribute to player-burnout and that its success could lead to further opportunities for the 20/20 format.
News of the proposed International Super Rugby (ISR) tournament broke on Sunday, and the response from the public and media has been predominantly negative. The breaking story prompted more questions than it answered, and its confirmation that the new ISR would model itself after the money-spinning Indian Premier League led to all sorts of negative connotations.
WP senior professional coach Rassie Erasmus and lawyer Frikkie Erasmus are part of the consortium that will manage the tournament, and have come out in defence of the newly-proposed format. They had only planned to address the media once everything had been finalised in the next two months, but the leaking of information last Sunday has resulted in an earlier explanation on how the competition will work.
The rules and format are yet to be finalised, but the competition will be staged over a three-week period in January 2012. Over 200 of the world’s best players will compete across eight privately-owned franchises for a lucrative cash prize. Games are 20 minutes a half, hence the reference to cricket’s Twenty20 format, and will be played at the two new World Cup stadiums in Cape Town and Durban.
Player management’s become a touchy topic at Test and Super Rugby level, and by 2011, coaches will have to plan according to the extended Super 15 tournament. By 2012, Argentina will have joined the Four Nations. How can you justify playing another tournament before the rugby year even starts?
Rassie Erasmus believes fears of player burnout are unnecessary, and that contracted ISR players will benefit from playing in the tournament.
‘As a coach in the Super Rugby tournament, I am aware of the concerns,’ he told keo.co.za. ‘While I’m involved in ISR in a personal capacity, I’m still the senior professional coach at the Stormers and Western Province. If ISR threatened the players’ well being in the Super 15, it would be a conflict of interest.
‘There won’t be more rugby if you think about the fact that each ISR game is 20 minutes a half, and that during that time of year, players are already conditioning themselves for Super Rugby. What people also need to realise is that we’re not taking an entire team away from the coaches, but merely the world’s best players. It’s not like each Super 15 team will lose 15 players.’
Erasmus said that while players will be contracted for a three-week period, the competition takes place over two weeks. The week preceding the competition is spent planning and training. Once the tournament kicks off, there are seven match days over a fortnight, and on each day four games will be played over a three-hour period.
Frikkie Erasmus is involved with the contracting of players, and is certain that 90% of the targeted group will be available following the 2011 World Cup.
‘The tournament will be staged at the ideal time, because most players will come off their contracts after the 2011 World Cup, and can be contracted for the three-week period in January 2012,’ he told this website. ‘As we all know, a lot of players from South Africa, New Zealand and Australia plan to leave their respective countries after a World Cup and pursue the Euro in the northern hemisphere. South Africans go to Europe for the money and nothing else. Now they won’t have to.’
This will benefit South African players who don’t quite make the Springbok cut. Many talented players have sought a bigger pay-cheque and greater playing challenge after failing to crack a regular place in the national side. With the kind of money bandied about in ISR, the better provincial players won’t have to defect to Europe. According to the Erasmus pair, rugby players are set to earn the same kind of money that’s earned in the IPL.
‘There will be a bid for each individual player, but there are rules that need to be respected,’ said Frikkie Erasmus. ‘Different players will fall into different categories, so obviously you can’t pick 15 players in the same category. We are still working on the formula to ensure every team remains competitive, and it’s not a case of the richest team dominating.’
The consortium is currently in talks with Saru and the IRB, and hopes to secure the backing of both bodies. Although this is not necessary given ISR is considered a separate code to the one governed by said bodies, Rassie Erasmus feels it will be better if everybody was on the same page. In the long-term, the 20/20 format could be utilised in other competitions.
‘All that’s wrong and boring about rugby can be solved in this format, which is why people need to give it a chance,’ he said. ‘We are working out the perceived problem areas at this stage, but it’s a very exciting thing to be a part of. It’s meant to entertain, but it’s still good rugby.’
By Jon Cardinelli
176 Comments
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24 Jun 2010, 14:30 pm
@Bod(bod)-147:
I think we should refer to Keo from now on as “TweetiePie”.
24 Jun 2010, 14:30 pm
If you use Twitter for business it actually is a great tool, depending on your profession. I find it great for mine, I learn about new media developments as they happen and can adapt.
To follow celebrities etc, well that’s all a bit sad really.
24 Jun 2010, 14:41 pm
@David(David)-151:
BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!
TweetiePie it is!
@goyougoodthing2(goyougoodthing2)-152: fair enough.
24 Jun 2010, 14:41 pm
The 5 steps to being rugby cool on this site:
1 Have a facebook profile
2 Tweet and twitter your pearls of wisdom to no-one that cares
3 The Blackberry Curve is non-negotiable… nothing else matters
4 The Highlanders are the Landers, the Hurricanes are the Canes and the Crusaders are the Saders
5 Have an air-brushed characture of your face done and plaster it on your homepage
Now you are in…
24 Jun 2010, 14:44 pm
@David(David)-151: Tweetie Pie it is…….
My brother was on twitter for a while but got bored with it quite quickly…….He just followed all the FHM models anyway and once the restraining orders started arriving it stopped becoming fun for him…
24 Jun 2010, 14:45 pm
@goyougoodthing2(goyougoodthing2)-152:
a great tool..
nuff said..
24 Jun 2010, 14:47 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-155:
LOFL!
24 Jun 2010, 14:49 pm
@Bod(bod)-154:
6. the rugby ball is the “pill”
7. the changeroom is the “shed”
24 Jun 2010, 14:49 pm
@David(David)-151:
I can live with that!
Just look at the 5 year old mugshot of ol Keo at the top of the page and start hurling “Tweetiepie” at it and it does become quite apt
24 Jun 2010, 14:50 pm
@David(David)-151: The thing is, keo doesn’t tweet us with respect.
Sorry, wespect.
24 Jun 2010, 14:53 pm
@rangerman(rangerman)-158:
Correctomundo
But the final qualification has to be that you have never played a game of rugby in your life and your buddies call you Tweetiepie
It all starts coming together…
24 Jun 2010, 14:58 pm
@katman(katman)-160:
24 Jun 2010, 14:58 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-155:
can you get a restraining order slapped on you because of twitter?
****….
24 Jun 2010, 15:01 pm
@Bod(bod)-161: you must of course have a merry band of men who share your thoughts and of course, be able to reverse your jersey.
24 Jun 2010, 15:02 pm
@gunther(gunther)-163: You need a lawyer?
24 Jun 2010, 15:05 pm
@katman(katman)-165:
and a passport…
24 Jun 2010, 15:09 pm
@gunther(gunther)-163: Well, that and the photos and flowers and late night phone calls and hang ups……
But that’s a story for another day and another website
24 Jun 2010, 15:10 pm
@katman(katman)-160:
24 Jun 2010, 15:12 pm
@Bod(bod)-159:
That’s what I thought.
24 Jun 2010, 15:13 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-167:
Its all so easily misunderstood I know…
She broke my heart so I ripped hers out…
Jeannie D if you’re reading this honey I can explain…
24 Jun 2010, 15:20 pm
@gunther(gunther)-170: He he he I’m sure julius Malema is just misunderstood as wel…..
24 Jun 2010, 16:14 pm
Disco Rassie’s appointment as HC, and subsequently S-Pro Coach of the Stormers / WP had me thinking of Rafa Benitez (embattled, former Liverpool mentor).
At the time of his employment, Rafa had a gifted squad and set out to build quality in depth for the Merseysiders. Stevie G already part of the squad, he made notable acquisitions in Fernando Torres, Javier Mashcerano, Iaquinta, Dirk Kuyt, etc. Liverpool, playing with one of the best squads ended 7th (if I’m not mistaken) in their recent premiership campaign. The coach is now on his way out to Internazionale (Milan), and a once proud team looks like they may follow in the footsteps of the Magpies (read Newcastle) to being former glory boys of yesteryear.
To compare Liverpool’s fall from grace to that of WP rugby may be like comparing apples with pears – and it’ll probably take an extremely chilly day in hell before Schalk-the-Hulk and such is relegated from CC rugby (even S14, once the Spears stake their claim) – but you can draw comparisons between Disco Rassie and Benitez.
Enter Disco Rassie a few years earlier into the WP Rugby fold – the mercenary immediately started to recruit players like it’s going out of fashion. Take into consideration that Rassie-Tafarian never played with the (THEN) size of WPRU’s cheque-book (sadly, the FRRU don’t have a cheque book – they have to make ends meet with petty cash), the man was like a kid in a candy store. Notable success aside (w.r.t. Duane Vermuelen), he contracted an over-the-hill AJ Venter, HIS quota selection in Hilton Lobberts (Lobberts, IMO is player who deserved more opportunities at the Bulls above a then out of sorts Wannenburg, and at the Stormers – well AJ Venter), elusive pivot in command Willem De Waal (elusive, huh?… nuff said), runner in the wider channels hooker Schalk Brits, etc. We can probably name a few more – and you’d start getting the picture of Rassie-and-cuzzie’s character.
With the above said (and this notion of IPL-type T20 rugby), does Raz-and Cuz have WPRU (and SARU) best interest at heart?
Look at what Alister Coetzee achieved with largely the same squad of players… enough said.
24 Jun 2010, 16:36 pm
@rangerman(rangerman)-158: 8. Understand what the words “tactical intelligence” mean.
9. Believe everything reported by an “impeccable source”.
24 Jun 2010, 20:59 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-173:
10. Refer to “open secrets.”
11. Use every cliche under the sun
12. Cut and paste like a pro.
25 Jun 2010, 04:49 am
has anyone asked the players yet?
25 Jun 2010, 05:14 am
Potblou (172) You have surely done your homework on Liverpool. Your comparison is brilliant. The 20/20 rugby scheme of Rassie and Frikkie is the next step in undermining Bulls rugby. Conspiracy theory coming to life. The Stormers have progressed from a 75-14 loss in 2005 to a near win in 2010. (Bekker, Schalkie and Jean futured in the 2005 match). Anyway, they might have pulled it off this year if Bekker didn’t incur a lower back injury in the back of an Audi with tinted windows the week before the big clash.
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