SA franchises to get travel relief
Yesterday at 01:18 AM
From next season, South Africa’s franchise players will no longer have to cram into economy class when travelling to and from Europe.
This will be a result of SA Rugby becoming full EPCR shareholders on 1 July.
MyPlayers, the SA professional rugby players’ organisation, confirmed to Rapport that at least 15 players per team will fly in business class for matches in the Vodacom URC, Investec Champions Cup or EPCR Challenge Cup, with the rest of the squad in premier economy class.
Currently, only the Vodacom Bulls travel in business class thanks to the financial support from their billionaire shareholders, Johann Rupert and Patrice Motsepe.
“Our teams travel significantly more internationally than other teams and so the rugby industry agreed last year [on business class tickets from July],” said David de Villiers, MyPlayers general manager of financial services.
MORE: Stop moaning about travel – SA Rugby boss
De Villiers said MyPlayers consistently monitored players’ workloads and ensured they had a minimum of eight weeks rest per year.
“At this stage, the top 25 SA players per team play an average of 13 URC matches per year [excluding playoffs], compared to an average of 12 matches per year for all other players from other countries.
“The Challenge Cup and/or Champions Cup takes the average to around 17 matches per year per player.”
Photo: Instagram
The post SA franchises to get travel relief appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
