{"id":341104,"date":"2025-12-11T06:31:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T06:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/341104\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T06:31:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T06:31:07","slug":"aussie-rugby-missing-sa-muscle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/341104\/","title":{"rendered":"Aussie rugby missing SA muscle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"236\" data-end=\"473\">Wallabies great Matt Burke says Australian rugby is paying the price for no longer facing South African teams.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"236\" data-end=\"473\">He argues that Super Rugby has lost the physical edge once forged by regular battles with the Bulls, Sharks, Stormers and Lions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-title entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sarugbymag.co.za\/super-rugby-turns-30-losers-still-get-lucky\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">MORE: Super Rugby turns 30 and losers still get lucky<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"475\" data-end=\"719\">Burke, who played more than 80 Tests for Australia, believes the absence of South African sides has left a significant gap in player development, particularly in handling the physical \u201cbrutality\u201d that used to define cross-hemisphere showdowns.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"721\" data-end=\"953\">Speaking on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=c_piqobv4fk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">DSPN podcast<\/a>, Burke said the old Super 12 and Super 14 days gave Australian teams a crucial education in how to survive South African intensity, something he feels today\u2019s players have never properly been exposed to.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"955\" data-end=\"1141\">\u201cMaybe this new crew doesn\u2019t know what it means to play South African rugby,\u201d Burke said. \u201cIt is the be-all and end-all. The fans are fanatical\u2026 the muscling up is probably the big one.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1143\" data-end=\"1348\">He recalled how two- and three-week tours in South Africa helped players understand not just the physical demands, but the environment itself \u2013 from hostile crowds to supporters watching training sessions.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1350\" data-end=\"1442\">\u201cThat elevated your level of competitiveness in the physicality and the brutality,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-title entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sarugbymag.co.za\/frans-super-rugby-right-fit-cheetahs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">FRANS: Super Rugby right fit for Cheetahs<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1444\" data-end=\"1741\">South Africa\u2019s departure from Super Rugby after the Covid-hit 2020 season has long been criticised by big names across the Tasman. Former All Blacks Israel Dagg and Murray Mexted have both lamented the split, arguing New Zealand rugby also lost something when SA\u2019s bruisers exited the competition.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1743\" data-end=\"1959\">The Bulls, Stormers, Sharks and Lions now compete in the United Rugby Championship, a move that has strengthened northern-hemisphere competitions while leaving Super Rugby Pacific far more domestic and less diverse.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1961\" data-end=\"2048\">Burke believes that shift has had a real impact on Australia\u2019s readiness at Test level.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2050\" data-end=\"2181\">\u201cWhen you\u2019re playing South Africa\u2026 you start to understand the level of intensity over there,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s hard to replicate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2050\" data-end=\"2181\">Photo: Mark Nolan\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wallabies great Matt Burke says Australian rugby is paying the price for no longer facing South African teams.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-341104","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}