England international Courtney Lawes has taken a dig at South Africa and the Bulls after a recent Champions Cup controversy.
Prior to this past weekend’s quarter-final round of action in the Champions Cup, South Africa’s leading local franchise the Bulls were embroiled in an unexpected saga, which was at least partially fuelled by coach Jake White.
Before the Bulls left for England to face the Northampton Saints, White slammed SA Rugby bosses over what he said was a lack of clarity and planning when it came to travel arrangements.
“There aren’t a lot of teams that leave on eight different airlines on a Tuesday evening to play a Saturday night game,” he was said to have said. “I’m sure the higher authorities will find a solution, whatever the issue may be. It’s not what was anticipated. At first, we were told that the trip to Europe would take an overnight flight.
Rather, it recently took 27 hours and 28 hours to get to and from Leinster, and it costs money whether we like it or not. Our [Bulls] board has previously covered the starting teams’ business-class airfare, which is a huge honor and wonderful gesture on their part.
In the end, though, SA Rugby responded with a statement outlining the more than R4 million that had been expended in an effort to send the Bulls abroad as effectively as possible.
Whatever the situation, Northampton Saints forward Courtney Lawes made it apparent that all of the pre-game chatter was a diversionary effort when he said the well-reported flight issues were overstated.
“The whole carnival around it makes it a very South African thing to do,” Lawes said to former rugby player Jim Hamilton on the Rugby Pod. “I can assure you that there were not eight separate flights, despite claims made in the press that there were.
Many things were overstated, but the players arrived at roughly the same time as the staff, who arrived at various times. It was an excellent method of relieving themselves of some of the burden, upsetting us, and forcing us to consider alternative ideas.
LAWES WENT ON TO QUESTION THE BULLS’ SELECTION
“I was pretty disappointed they didn’t put their best team out,” Lawes added.
“Playing against the best team always gets you ready for a team like Leinster,” the player stated.
The decision was made, at least in part, strategically because Bulls coach Jake White did not want to subject certain players to a demanding travel schedule in order to play the Northampton Saints.
The European Professional Club Rugby conducted an investigation to see whether the Bulls had violated the terms of the participation agreement. In the end, it was stated that the EPCR had not assigned responsibility to the South African team. Rather, it was suggested that the knockout schedule for the upcoming season be altered in order to prevent a recurrence of the Bulls selection dispute.
WHITE INSISTED IT WAS NEVER ABOUT DISRESPECTING THE CHAMPIONS CUP
After the game that the Bulls lost heavily, White sought to set the record straight.
“I’ve got to stress, because I think people are reading it completely wrong that I’m not whinging about being here, in fact I’m loving this competition. I’m loving the fact that we get exposed to this and I’m loving that these players can learn what they learned tonight,” White explained when asked about the supposed “disrespect”,” he told reporters.
“It resembles test rugby so much.” While the style may differ slightly from test rugby in that it is less tactical and conservative, the energy and will to win still remain. To be clear, we wish to participate in this tournament.
“You must serve your time. We want to win and be that strong team that can play every weekend and be competitive. We have been participating in this tournament for the past two years. Some of the lads are flying business class for the first time. When you consider that some of them are traveling abroad for the first time, it shows that we still have a ways to go.
