Players in Europe off the pace, says Springboks’ fitness guru

SOUTH AFRICA’S conditioning coach Neels Liebel claimed yesterday he had proof to show northern hemisphere rugby was slower than the game played in the southern hemisphere.

Liebel said the new global positioning system (GPS) the Springboks are using to track the movement of players during games and training had proved those based in Europe were behind the pace of locally-based internationals.

De Villiers has fielded five Europe-based players this season – props CJ van der Linde (Leinster) and BJ Botha (Ulster), No. 8 Joe van Niekerk (Toulon), full-back Francois Steyn (Racing Metro) and fly-half Butch James (Bath).

“This GPS system allows us to do close monitoring of the players, the distance they run, the pace they are running,” Liebel said.

“From all this we have seen players from overseas are playing at about half the intensity of the Super 14 in terms of the speed they play at. Players there struggle to keep up with the pace.”

Van der Linde and James are in the squad to face New Zealand in the Tri-Nations in Johannesburg on Saturday. “It’s taken four or five weeks for us to get those (European-based) players to the intensity we wanted,” added Liebel. “It’s just the game is different in the northern hemisphere, they play closer to the rucks, they don’t often move the ball further than five or six metres from the ruck.”

Liebel also defended Springbok captain John Smit, who is due to win his 100th cap on Saturday but has been under fire over his form and fitness.

“John is in a good physical condition. His weight is the same as it has been the last two or three years. I have no concerns about his fitness at all.”