Wallabies head coach Eddie Jones believes that playing in Europe has its benefits but that the slower pace of the game could hamper the Springboks later this year.
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After leaving Super Rugby, South African rugby has aligned their season with the northern hemisphere, with their franchises joining the United Rugby Championship.
They have also played in the Champions Cup this season, a tournament Jones described as the “highest level of domestic rugby.”
The 63-year-old insists that it is the most physical club competition in the world, eclipsing that of Super Rugby, but that the contact side of the sport is not something the Springboks need to develop.
“In terms of the rugby, I think they will benefit from the physical intensity, but generally speaking, South African teams never have to worry about that,” he said on his podcast, EDDIE.
“They might miss playing against the speed of Super Rugby, and that’s certainly one thing we’ll look at; can we find a way to use the speed of the game to help us against the South African national team?”
Logistics
Jones insisted that logistically it made sense for the South African sides to play up north but that there were advantages to playing in Super Rugby.
“For the South African teams domestically, it works better for them because they’re on the same time zone, so it’s much easier for them to travel. The difficulty for the South African teams in Super Rugby was the travel,” he said.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt that South Africa benefit from playing against New Zealand teams and Australian teams, and similarly for the Springboks, playing against New Zealand and Australia regularly. But that travel is taxing.”
South Africans watched their teams play in the Champions Cup for the first time ever this season, with the Bulls, Sharks and Stormers all reaching the knockout stages.
However, they were eliminated before the semi-final stage, with the Bulls and Sharks succumbing to Toulouse and the Stormers going down to Exeter Chiefs.
“It’s the most like a Test match. If I was to comment on Super Rugby, the thing that it’s missing out on is that physical intenseness around the ball. In the Champions Cup, you get that,” Jones said.
“You watch La Rochelle play, you watch Toulouse play, they’re so good around the ball, and then they’re able to move the ball quickly to space, either through kicking or passing.
“When you’re judging players, you’re looking at whether they can handle that level of rugby because it’s considerably higher than the pool rounds of the Champions Cup. It’s the best selection guide.”
Training camp
Jones has taken a great interest in how the South African franchises have fared as he prepares to hold his first Wallabies training camp ahead of the Rugby Championship, which starts in July.
The 63-year-old admits that performances have not been good enough in Super Rugby Pacific in 2023 and that it will be a big challenge to close the gap.
“I’m conscious of the fact that we’ve got a fair bit of work to do, with a team that’s winning at 38 per cent – at the World Cup, you have to win at 100 per cent,” he said.
“62 per cent is a big gap, and the Super Rugby performances haven’t been at the level we would expect, and therefore we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Jones has also likened his role in the upcoming camp to being a supply teacher.
He added: “It’s like walking into a classroom when you’re the casual relief teacher, which I did for a couple of years, and I always used to get the bottom Year 9 classes.
“That was the day the teachers took off because they didn’t want all the boys with the hormones pumping through their bodies.
“You get into one of those classes, it’s usually mathematics and Pythagoras’ theorem and the only thing they know what to do with triangles is to stick it into someone.
“You try to work out a way to get the group to work together; you’re are looking for pupils who are going to help you get the class working.
“You are looking for the players or the pupils who are troublemakers, and then you’ve got to try and find a way to work with them.
“It’s similar with the team. You walk in first day, and you’ve got some ideas about what you want to do, ideas about how you want to play and ideas about how you want to operate off the field.
“But at the end of the day, you’ve got to do some work with them and find out where you can go.”