South Africa
Springbok players to sit out Currie Cup
ESPN Staff
July 31, 2014
The Sharks celebrate winning the Currie Cup in 2013 © Getty Images
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This season's Currie Cup competition is likely to be weakened by the absence of any Springbok players following a request by the South African Rugby Union (SARU) for teams not to pick them.

In previous seasons players returned to their provinces towards the end of the tournament, but that is unlikely to be repeated this year.

"It was decided upon that all contracted Boks will play no part in the Currie Cup, which puts us at a bit of a disadvantage," Sharks chief executive John Smit said. "It also depends on who gets selected for the Rugby Championship because they will then be unavailable for the duration of that competition as well.

"There are two ways of looking at it though: you can be negative and worry about how it affects your chances to win the Currie Cup, or you can be excited about creating Springboks and testing the depth of the squad. We have some exciting youngsters and there will be a few fresh faces."

Smit said the side had more than enough talent to cope. "There are youngsters who haven't even turned 19 yet who could have a role to play in the Currie Cup. There's a huge amount of excitement about what this Currie Cup could offer in that regard.

"The challenge in the first five or six weeks of the Currie Cup is that we will face other teams who have had two months to prepare, so we need to make sure we bat cleverly in the beginning."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd

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