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'Northern Hemisphere' team South Africa have no 'hatred' for England

Jacques Nienaber Head coach of South Africa prior the Rugby World Cup France 2023 Quarter Final match between France and South Africa at Stade de France on October 15, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Franco Arland/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)

South African head coach Jacques Nienaber has denied there is any ‘hatred’ from the Springboks towards England and insists that his coaches have been treated with nothing but respect when visiting English clubs.

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This week there has been talk of a lingering beef between England and South Africa, both in regard to the Boks’ defeat of the men in white in last year’s Autumn Nations Series and their famous Rugby World Cup final win in Japan in 2019.

With many current Springboks players based in England, it has meant there have been regular visits from the Boks coaches. Nienaber insists they’ve always been welcomed with open arms by Gallagher Premiership clubs.

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WATCH as Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber explains why there is no room for ‘entitled’ players in his team

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WATCH as Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber explains why there is no room for ‘entitled’ players in his team

“With us having players in England, we go and visit our players, like Andre Esterhuizen at Harlequins, or Vincent Koch when he was at Saracens,” said Nienaber. “I must say we have always been met with open arms, like when we went to Sale to see the Du Preez brothers and Faf [de Klerk]. There hasn’t been one club who turned us away, they have always welcomed us. So from a hatred point of view, definitely not from our side. We have a good working relationship [with the English clubs], they are really open. They don’t deny us access under the regulations.”

Some pundits have mischievously claimed that the Boks are now a ‘Northern Hemisphere team’ given they have so many players based in Europe and the UK. RugbyPass writer Ben Smith wrote on X that: “We’ve got two Northern Hemisphere teams in one semi-final this week. South African clubs play in Europe and the rest of the Bok players are at other European clubs or Japan. Springboks = Northern Hemisphere team.”

Nienaber was asked to elaborate on the differences between the Six Nations and Rugby Championship teams, given so many South African teams now play in the United Rugby Championship.

“There are multiple factors but the first one is obviously the weather. In the southern hemisphere the game has the tendency to be a bit quicker because we play our games the majority of time in fair weather and on hard pitches.

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“When you play in the URC over December, January, February and you play at Connacht, it can be treacherous so you have to adapt your style of rugby to get a result whereas in the southern hemisphere it’s the odd game that you will have to adapt your style to fit the weather conditions.

“The other thing is, from a coaching point of view, because you play a Welsh, Scottish, Irish, South African or Italian team, every country has their own style of play so you get exposure to a lot of different coaching styles and methods. Every country has its own little soul, how they see rugby, so you have to adapt to that.

“Then there’s refereeing – this week you’ll get a Scottish referee, the next week an English referee, the next a Welsh referee, and I haven’t mentioned the playing surfaces – 4G, grass – so you have to be a lot more adaptive.

“In the southern hemisphere, the altitude, the time zones, the travel is something you have to adapt to. [In the northern hemisphere] if you’re at Munster and you play at Treviso, that is probably the longest journey you will face – a couple of hours – you’re in and out, whereas in the southern hemisphere it’s two three-week tours in different time zones so I’d say that’s the biggest differences in the competitions.”

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Comments

8 Comments
A
Andy 608 days ago

The AB's will be moaning even more once South Africa are playing in the 6 nations, the rugby championship will only have one good team in it and the competition will not be as good and the 6 nations will become a better competition

P
Phil 608 days ago

Hilarious that the Northern Hemisphere jibe came from Ben Smith, clearly a SH “journalist”.


Nobody up here considers SA to be anything other than SH.


Smith is just trolling as unusual.

B
Bob Marler 606 days ago

I mean there’s also the fact that South Africa is below the equator. And the players are South African citizens. But Ja. I get where Ben is coming from. He wants to be an arse troll.

L
LB 608 days ago

Ja! I don’t understand this tendency to try divide us, may be these journos are politically motivated. New Zealand has become so rotten with socialist-liberalism…

South Africans love (and love to hate) the All Blacks and vice versa. Rugby ethics are different in both camps I suppose, but the old All Black blokes, the proper New Zealanders (direct, no nonsense tell it like it is blokes) love the South Africans (generalisation) cause they’re great blokes, ask Marshal! And vice versa.

We want rugby and rugby content, go report on the EU, the UN or Hilary Clinton if you want to further polarise the world because if we unhook from this site you okes are out of a job!

J
JD Kiwi 608 days ago

Hilarious that desperate pundits from the north are trying to claim South Africa as one of theirs. The Springboks might be playing in an Afro-European club comp but they are still resolutely South African!

B
BigMaul 608 days ago

No one in the Northern Hemisphere is trying to claim South Africa is a NH team. That comment is from a New Zealander (one with a history of trolling SA fans).

W
Wesley 608 days ago

And resolutely a Southern Hemisphere team

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J
JW 12 minutes ago
Super Rugby is booming, but is it actually helping the All Blacks?

Theres still the problem of it all being behind doors, no consultation or notice of their decision to remove injury checks on the field, an attempt ambitious but which wholly had failed when it had to be removed half way through the competition. How may they have introduced that better if they had of consulted fans and teams? The new body still has a long way to go to be a real pro body like those mentioned.


I certainly hope they can show they can evaluate feedback and reintroduce the idea in an improved concept next year.

two hemispheres.

LOL are you a flat earther as well Gregor?

The average game length (excluding half-time) was 90 minutes and 11s, compared with 91 minutes and seven seconds in 2024.

This stat combined with the ridiculous amount of overtime played must mean theres more than 5minutes of rugby played in SR than any european competition. Incredible.

As an entertainment product, Super Rugby is starting to rebuild itself as one of the game’s hottest properties.

But what’s not clear yet, is whether it’s is going to deliver on its other goal: a competition with the necessary physical and competitive intensity to prepare New Zealand’s best players for what they will encounter in the international arena.

It has been since it’s formation. It was the second attempt and what the Aratipu report considered the best way forward for the game. Which was a move away from the orginal foundations of SR as being just a test ground for the respective National teams. It was time to make it a financially successful competition instead.

And this is the reality of picking an All Blacks squad in the Super Rugby Pacific era

It’s always been the reality even for Super Rugby, even if much less so for ALL other pro sports.

he was practically hinting to media they shouldn’t always be seduced by what they see in Super Rugby

Sititi was the form SR selection, it’s the only reason he made it in.

This year, there could again be a few surprises. Could Dalton Papali’i– a prominent force for the Blues – miss out to the rugged Simon Parker who has been a workhorse for the Chiefs, carrying with an impact his 1.96m, 117kg frame enables?

That would be selecting of form, not who you believe is best test suited.

but will it be the Highlanders’ Fabien Holland who wins a spot because he carted the ball up the middle of the field thanklessly and relentlessly

Yes hopefully, he’s been the stand out Lock this year.

or will the latter’s deft touches and smart kicking be preferred?

Depends on what the teams lacking.

is it mad to wonder whether the combative and defensively adept Finlay Christie is better equipped to play Test rugby

Yes, he’s been proven to not be good enough.

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