South African Rugby Union (SARU) have moved to dispel rumours of a rift in the Bok Team Management amid reports that suggest otherwise.

Andy Marinos, SARU's National Teams Manager who accompanied the side on the away leg of the Tri-Nations, said any such talk is unfounded.

"I've been with the Springboks for almost three weeks now and can categorically state there is no rift in the Management Team," said Marinos.

"In my various discussions with Bok coach Peter de Villiers, his assistant coaches Dick Muir and Gary Gold, as well as senior team members John Smit and Victor Matfield, it's never once come up that there are problems in the camp.

"For three weeks in a row we have not played well and made it harder for ourselves by playing with only 14 players on the field at crucial time during the games, away from home."

Apart from eleven Springbok players that have been released for Currie Cup duty, the rest of the Tri-Nations squad have been given time off and will reconvene next month for the three home Tests - against the All Blacks in Soweto (21 August) and against the Wallabies in Pretoria (28 August) and Bloemfontein (4 September).

The players that have been released to their provinces are: Dewald Potgieter, Chiliboy Ralepelle, Flip van der Merwe, Francois Hougaard (Blue Bulls), Ruan Pienaar, Beast Mtawarira, Ryan Kankowski (The Sharks), Gio Aplon, Juan de Jongh, Francois Louw (Western Province) and CJ van der Linde (Free State Cheetahs).

planetrugby.com

26/07/2010