‘We will look after them’: Sharks coach JP Pietersen on returning Spr…

The Sharks have brought six Springboks back into the matchday 23 for Saturday’s clash with Leinster, but this doesn’t mean the union isn’t monitoring their workload, according to head coach JP Pietersen. mchezo.co.za

Regular captain André Esterhuizen, Edwill van der Merwe and Thomas du Toit join the starting XV, while Ox Nché, Eben Etzebeth and Ethan Hooker join the bench for the 6.30pm United Rugby Championship (URC) match at Kings Park.

This follows a busy period with the national squad since June, playing a friendly against the Barbarians, three Nations Championship Tests, a solitary Test against Argentina, then four Tests against the All Blacks in the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series, and another lone match against the Wallabies last weekend.

It also comes after the Sharks battled injury crises for two consecutive seasons, with many Springboks out of action.

‘The boys are keen to play’

“We are aware of the workload they have been doing. The minutes they’ve played and been in training,” Pietersen said.

InfosEducation nationale : les agents maintiennent la pression pour trois mois de rappelLa mobilisation se poursuit au ministère de l'Éducation nationale. Ce mercredi, les personnels administratifs et techniques syndiqués maintiennent leur mouvement pour obtenir l'...Ouvrir →

Still, it was “quite easy to pick them” because of their quality and willingness to play for the Durban union as they looked to bounce back from a 10th-place finish last season.

“The most important thing is the boys are keen to play and there’s nothing much we can do as coaching staff but be more excited that the players want to come back and put the jersey on.

“We have to plan around it (the workload). How we can monitor them or help them train certain days, and just keep their minutes low during training during the week. Then in team selection we will look after them.

“Especially with Ox, Eben and Ethan Hooker playing the most minutes in the last four Tests.”

Young Sharks miss out, for now

He said selection headaches were part of the job, after six players had to make way for the returning Springboks after their emphatic 41-24 victory over Ospreys at Kings Park last week.

Centre Janco Purchase, who earned praise from Pietersen for a strong debut performance, was one of the players to miss out.

“It’s great for the group that we have some experience back with the youth. And we have players who are game ready and can perform,” Pietersen concluded.

Ces derniers mois, l'est de la Centrafrique a été frappé par plusieurs attaques attribuées à l’Armée de résistance du Seigneur (LRA), milice ougandaise tristement célèbre pour ses massacres et enlèvements d'enfants de masse dans les années 1990 et 2000. Recherché par la Cour pénale internationale depuis plus de 20 ans, son chef, Joseph Kony, demeure introuvable. Comment expliquer la résurgence de ce groupe ? Entretien avec Leonie von Braun, cheffe d'enquête de la CPI sur l'affaire Joseph Kony.

En Côte d’Ivoire, l’exploitation artisanale de l’or connaît un essor, notamment dans les sites clandestins. Les autorités veulent mettre fin à l’orpaillage illégal, accusé de dégrader les terres et de polluer les cours d’eau, et ont renforcé les sanctions. Mais sur le terrain, la lutte se heurte à une réalité économique : pour de nombreux jeunes, l’exploitation de l’or reste l’une des rares sources de revenus. Reportage de Jean Barrère et Damien Koffi.

Former Munster captain Peter O’Mahony has revealed why Rassie Erasmus’ departure from the Irish club hit him so hard.

Erasmus joined Munster as director of rugby in July 2016 and took on greater coaching responsibility following the sudden death of head coach Anthony ‘Axel’ Foley later that year.

His appointment as SA Rugby director of rugby was announced in June 2017 and he left Munster at the end of that year, along with Jacques Nienaber. In March 2018, Erasmus replaced Allister Coetzee as Springbok head coach.

“I loved working with him,” O’Mahony said on the Irish Independent’s Indo Sport podcast while discussing his new book, All In. “He’s mad, but he’s good mad, and we got on well.

“He had a great little thing going with Jacques [as defence coach] for a long time. Obviously, I say in the book how disappointed I was when he left.

“The main reason for that is I knew he was good, and obviously he’s gone back home since and won two World Cups, so I wasn’t far off.

“The reason I was most annoyed is I could see that he was going to make a difference to us, and we really needed that bit of direction.

ALSO: SA clubs force Irish star to up his game

“I was hurt because I trusted him and I was all into his game plan, and I was driving that for him.

“When I look back now and I put myself in his boots, if I felt that I could go home and make a difference in the national team and make them a special team again, then it’d be the first thing I’d do.

“It’s business. Sport is ruthless and that’s what happens, that’s the way it goes.

“But it was difficult for me because, as I said, I knew he was going to make a difference to us. We were just starting to get there with him and when he left, that hurt.

“But looking back, of course it was the only thing he could do, really.”

PLUS: URC champs copy Rassie

The flanker, who earned 197 caps for Munster and 114 for Ireland, also recalled Erasmus’ ability to fire up his players.

“He’d have all these little angles. Incredible motivator, though. You’ve seen some of it.

“There were days he really did set us up well. You’d be ready for war some days going out for him, to be fair.”

Photo: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile via Getty Images

The post Irish legend: Rassie hurt me appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.