The relentless global calendar is breaking South Africa’s best players, and Wilco Louw is the clearest warning sign, writes MARK KEOHANE.
Writing for TimesLIVE, Keohane argues that World Rugby’s constant talk of player welfare has become hollow, as South African players continue to be punished by an unforgiving schedule that offers no meaningful off-season. He points to Vodacom Bulls and Springbok tighthead Wilco Louw as the starkest example of a system that demands everything and protects nothing.
Louw, described by Keohane as “the most destructive scrumming tighthead prop in world rugby,” has played every month since October 2024, turning out for club and country without pause. In just 16 months, he will have played 45 matches, starting 33 of them, a workload Keohane says is “not player welfare, but an abuse of player quality.”
Keohane highlights the brutal reality for elite South African and Argentine players, who are the only internationals forced to combine Rugby Championship demands with full northern hemisphere club seasons.
“Nothing stopped, nothing slowed and the only change was the colour of jersey he was wearing,” he writes of Louw’s relentless cycle between the Springboks and the Bulls.
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The consequence, Keohane warns, is shortened careers and elite players choosing club over country, making themselves available for Test rugby only in World Cup years.
“You cannot keep selling toughness while ignoring physics,” he argues, calling for a single global season and a genuine off-season as non-negotiable.
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As the Sharks host the Stormers and the Lions face the Bulls this weekend, Keohane urges supporters to consider the cost behind the collisions.
“It is not sustainable and it should never have been asked to be sustainable,” he concludes, warning that without urgent reform, Test rugby risks becoming a contest not of the best players, but “the best of whoever is left over.”
Photo: Anton Geyser/Gallo Images
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