Gold stands by selection call

Editor

Sharks head coach Gary Gold has defended his decision not to rest his Springboks this week, despite hopes from SARU that teams would do so.

SARU have asked the five South African franchises to not pick certain Boks for more than five straight matches so they are rested for the Rugby World Cup.

But Gold, whose side face the Chiefs on Saturday and do not get their first bye week until later than other Super Rugby teams, has selected his star players.

"At the Sharks we are 100 percent behind the Springboks and the resting of players," he told sarugbymag.co.za in defence of his selection decision.

"I think it's the right thing to do and we need to do it.

"But we have a slightly different challenge compared to other franchises, as we have the most Springboks and our first bye is in week 11. Other South African teams get that bye within the first five weeks of the competition.

"We are committed to resting the players, but it has become a juggling act this week because we haven’t been given a bye. As of last week, we were the only franchise to rest any Springboks early on."