With a thorough reply, SA Rugby responds to Jake White’s travel complaints.
The Bulls defeated the French team 59-19 in a thrilling round of 16 victory that set up their matchup with the Saints. After the match, White was irritated by SA Rugby’s lack of communication on their travel schedule.
The coach brought up their journey to Leinster in the United Rugby Championship last month, mentioning that the team had to travel more than twenty-four hours to get to Dublin after being divided into eight separate planes. After receiving the schedule on Tuesday, which, as expected, divided his team, White continued to whine about the state of affairs.
Recently, SA Rugby sent a statement to the media outlining the steps involved in obtaining travel arrangements as well as the difficulties associated with the organization.
The statement said, “Media are advised that SA Rugby provided 38 flights—33 in business class and five in economy class—for the Vodacom Bulls Investec Champions Cup quarterfinal squad.”
Additionally, SA Rugby confirmed that White and the playing team flew overnight in business class to London, while the rest of the tour team took a longer route.
The playing team, which flew overnight in business class on two airlines—British Airways (24 players and management) and Lufthansa (4 players and management)—will arrive in London before 08:00 local time on Wednesday, they said.
“The CEO and coach also took a direct, overnight business class flight on Virgin to London.” The remaining eight tour members—four players and four managers—travelled via Dubai, Doha, and Zurich. Bulls attempt to argue that the Champions Cup should not have stood because the law has to be enforced.
Booking ahead is not an option.
The regulatory agency provided an explanation of why it was not practical to reserve seats in advance and how flight demand affects the procedure.
It was stated in the statement that “media will appreciate that securing business class seats on a single flight would be impossible due to the high demand for business class seats in and out of South Africa, combined with the reduced number of flights into the country and the late confirmation of the required seats (Sunday evening).”
Because it was unknown 48 hours prior to departure whether the Vodacom Bulls would qualify and whether they would play at home or away (should they qualify), pre-booking seats was discounted as an option due to the potential risk of losing 100% of the flight cost for a group booking.
“SA Rugby feels that the flights it procured for the Vodacom Bulls—at a cost of R4 108 449.00 to SA Rugby—represent the best possible outcome given the circumstances.”