SA Rugby hits back in row over Bulls’ travel chaos ahead of Northampton clash

SA Rugby has rejected claims by Bulls director Jake White that it was responsible for travel chaos affecting his players ahead of the Investec Champions Cup quarter-final against Northampton Saints this weekend.

White had suggested that his players would be split across eight different airlines to reach England in time for kick-off. It had also been reported that eight members of the squad, just over half of White’s starters, would fly overnight and arrive on Wednesday morning, with others hoping to arrive in the United Kingdom via Frankfurt, Paris, Doha, Dubai, Amsterdam, Zurich and Birmingham.

But SA Rugby revealed on Tuesday night that it supplied the Bulls with flights to England worth around £175,000 and insisted that the playing squad would be able to reach the United Kingdom on Wednesday morning, saying its own actions represented “the best possible outcome in the circumstances”.

A statement said: “Media are advised that SA Rugby provided 38 flights for the Vodacom Bulls Investec Champions Cup quarter-final squad – 33 in business class and five in economy class. The playing squad will arrive in London before 08h00 local time on Wednesday having travelled overnight in business class on two airlines: British Airways (24 players and management) and Lufthansa (four players and management).

“The coach and CEO also flew directly to London overnight on Virgin in business class. The balance of eight of the tour squad (four management and four players) travelled via Zurich, Doha, and Dubai. Media will appreciate that the high demand for business class seats in and out of South Africa, allied to the reduced number of flights into the country and the late confirmation of the required seats made it well-known to all parties that securing business class seats on a single flight would be impossible.

“Pre-booking seats was discounted as an option in view of the potential risk of loss of 100 per cent of the flight cost for a group booking, should it not be required as it was unknown until 48 hours before departure whether the Vodacom Bulls would qualify, or be playing home or away (in the event of qualification).

“SA Rugby believes that the flights sourced by SA Rugby for the Vodacom Bulls represent the very best outcome it was possible to achieve in the circumstances.”

‘If we want to be the best we need to get these things right’

White had been scathing of the travel chaos on Tuesday morning. “It’s not ideal,” he said. “I’ve said it before that if you are in a high-performance sport and you want to be competitive, there aren’t many sporting teams that would leave on eight different airlines on a Tuesday evening to play a Saturday night game.

“For whatever reason and I’m sure the powers that be will sort it out, but it isn’t what was expected. We were sold that it is an overnight flight and that is why we are playing in Europe. Two weeks ago we went to Leinster and it took us 28 hours to get to Dublin and 27 hours to get back. Whether we like it or not, it comes at a cost - whether we fly business class or not. And we are very fortunate, our board pays for business class for the starting 23, which is a fantastic gesture on their behalf and it is a bonus.

“But no sporting team flies 28 hours with eight different airplanes. Some land at 9, some land at 2. If you are talking about a competition where you want to be the best in the world, that doesn’t add up. And I’m not going to stop saying it: if we want to be the best we need to get those things right.”

Bulls dismissed Lyon 59-19 to set up a date with Northampton, scoring nine tries in the process. However, White explained that a bruising encounter caused enough collateral damage without the ensuing logistics bringing further problems.

“We leave Tuesday,” White added. “In an ideal world I would have loved to leave on Wednesday night and land on Thursday, and [would have] been able to prepare Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

“When you leave on Tuesday, and guys are sore after a tough game on the weekend, it is difficult. People assume that because the score was 59-19 it was an easy game, but those games can sometimes be a tougher fixture than winning 15-10. Monday they are a bit sore, and Tuesday you try and do as much prep as you can. You get there Wednesday and you can’t have two teams train each other because you don’t have so many players on tour.”

Win or lose, Bulls will have to return home soon after the meeting with Northampton because they have a United Rugby Championship fixture against Munster at Loftus Versfeld on April 20. Phil Dowson, White’s counterpart at Saints, acknowledged that the South Africans had been thrust into a highly difficult situation.

“It’s tough,” Dowson said. “As a coaching team, all you want to do is give your playing group the best chance to perform and that makes it tricky. I feel for Jake and the rest of that crew trying to put those logistics together.”