Australia slam Boks over weakened selection

SYDNEY – Australian Rugby Union (ARU) officials have slammed South Africa’s decision to send an under-strength side to Australia and New Zealand for their remaining Tri-Nations matches.

South Africa picked their best players for their two home matches but picked a second-string team for their away games, sparking a furious response from the Australians. Springboks coach Jake White said he wanted to keep his best players at home to keep them fresh for this year’s World Cup in France, but ARU chairman Peter McGrath said the South Africans had broken their word.”We had previously sought, and received, an assurance that they would be sending their best available test team,” McGrath said in a statement released on Monday.”We recognise that the rugby public has purchased tickets for this match in good faith and would feel betrayed by this decision by the South Africans.The ARU understands their outrage.”McGrath said the ARU would be seeking an urgent meeting with SANZAR, the collective body which runs the Tri-Nations and Super 14 competitions, to force South African Rugby (SAR) to change their selections.”The agreement between us clearly calls for each nation to field its best team and with SAR’s decision this is clearly not the case …we will pursue this issue and seek to get the decision reversed,” McGrath said.”It may be a Rugby World Cup year and the Springboks may have played five tests in a row but we face the same situation.”We all knew the test schedule well in advance, we all knew about the Rugby World Cup.”The row over international team selections has been intensifying ever since England sent a second-string team on their tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1998.The ARU described England’s selection policy as the “greatest sellout since Gallipoli” after the Wallabies thrashed the English 76-0, but that result has done little to deter the northern hemisphere teams from continuing to send weakened squads.The sport’s world governing body, the IRB, has long been fearful that the practice of deliberately picking weakened teams could eventually kill off international rugby.The IRB has already scrapped all inbound tours in the same year as the next World Cup, in 2011, but has been powerless to stop it this year as England, France, Wales and now South Africa opted to leave their best players at home and save them for the World Cup.”South Africa needs to look to a future beyond the World Cup and address these concerns urgently,” McGrath said.* Meanwhile, New Zealand’s players have accused their South African opponents of dirty tactics in Saturday’s Tri-Nations clash in Durban.New Zealand scored two late tries to win the match 26-21, but later claimed the Springboks had tried to unsettle them by foul means.All Blacks centre Aaron Mauger said most of the incidents happened off the ball when players were not expecting it.”There were a lot of cheap shots in at the side there,” Mauger told the New Zealand Press Association.”Fair’s fair if you’re ready for it and shaping up but a lot of it’s coming in from the side of rucks, it’s pretty average really.”Mauger, who landed a crucial drop goal during the match but also threw the pass that led to a South African intercept try, said it was hard for the referees and match officials to spot incidents that happened in backplay but the All Blacks wanted them to be aware of what was occurring.Nampa-ReutersSpringboks coach Jake White said he wanted to keep his best players at home to keep them fresh for this year’s World Cup in France, but ARU chairman Peter McGrath said the South Africans had broken their word.”We had previously sought, and received, an assurance that they would be sending their best available test team,” McGrath said in a statement released on Monday.”We recognise that the rugby public has purchased tickets for this match in good faith and would feel betrayed by this decision by the South Africans.The ARU understands their outrage.”McGrath said the ARU would be seeking an urgent meeting with SANZAR, the collective body which runs the Tri-Nations and Super 14 competitions, to force South African Rugby (SAR) to change their selections.”The agreement between us clearly calls for each nation to field its best team and with SAR’s decision this is clearly not the case …we will pursue this issue and seek to get the decision reversed,” McGrath said.”It may be a Rugby World Cup year and the Springboks may have played five tests in a row but we face the same situation.”We all knew the test schedule well in advance, we all knew about the Rugby World Cup.”The row over international team selections has been intensifying ever since England sent a second-string team on their tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1998.The ARU described England’s selection policy as the “greatest sellout since Gallipoli” after the Wallabies thrashed the English 76-0, but that result has done little to deter the northern hemisphere teams from continuing to send weakened squads.The sport’s world governing body, the IRB, has long been fearful that the practice of deliberately picking weakened teams could eventually kill off international rugby.The IRB has already scrapped all inbound tours in the same year as the next World Cup, in 2011, but has been powerless to stop it this year as England, France, Wales and now South Africa opted to leave their best players at home and save them for the World Cup.”South Africa needs to look to a future beyond the World Cup and address these concerns urgently,” McGrath said.* Meanwhile, New Zealand’s players have accused their South African opponents of dirty tactics in Saturday’s Tri-Nations clash in Durban.New Zealand scored two late tries to win the match 26-21, but later claimed the Springboks had tried to unsettle them by foul means.All Blacks centre Aaron Mauger said most of the incidents happened off the ball when players were not expecting it.”There were a lot of cheap shots in at the side there,” Mauger told the New Zealand Press Association.”Fair’s fair if you’re ready for it and shaping up but a lot of it’s coming in from the side of rucks, it’s pretty average really.”Mauger, who landed a crucial drop goal during the match but also threw the pass that led to a South African intercept try, said it was hard for the referees and match officials to spot incidents that happened in backplay but the All Blacks wanted them to be aware of what was occurring.Nampa-Reuters