English
Indian
العربية
Español
Deutsch
Türkçe
Русский
Français (Afrique)
Hydration breaks not popular and Fifa will review – Wenger
NEW YORK, United States, July 19, 2026 – Arsene Wenger says he accepts the hydration breaks introduced at the 2026 World Cup have not been popular and Fifa will review their impact after the tournament.
Fifa brought in mandatory three-minute hydration breaks for the World Cup, regardless of conditions, for all matches played at stadiums in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
The governing body said they were brought in as a commitment to player welfare but critics have pointed to broadcasters using the breaks as a way to cash in with commercials. milkshake.it.com
Former Arsenal manager Wenger, who is Fifa’s head of global football development, said “sometimes people didn’t like” the hydration breaks and Fifa will “analyse after the World Cup what the impact was”.
“It didn’t look to me that it changed the results but we are here to serve people that watch football and we will come to conclusions afterwards,” he added.
“In many games, especially when the stadium was covered, people were not happy with it but at the start of the competition it was decided to do it for everybody.”
As the tournament progressed, supporters started to boo the hydration breaks, such was the frustration at the stoppages.
Experts told BBC Sport an average 30-second World Cup ad slot on Fox Sports in the US costs between $200,000 (£152,000) and $300,000 (£227,000), rising to $750,000 (£567,000) during USA matches and the final stages.
They were effectively tactical timeouts, with coaches getting to run through strategical changes with the players.
European football body Uefa has ruled out introducing the breaks while England manager Thomas Tuchel admitted he is not a fan of them earlier in the tournament, saying they “interrupt and change the identity of a football match”.
Spain boss Luis de la Fuente voiced his support for the breaks last month, saying: “I am always interested in the health of my players. I think it’s the right measure – a pause, freshen up and continue.”
Meanwhile, Wenger said the expansion of the World Cup to feature 48 teams rather than 32, has been a success.
“It was questioned before it started but we found it was ethically needed to give a chance to more teams. I am convinced it was the right decision and it was a great success,” he said.
Bok centre calls it a day
A concussion scare and a growing desire to spend more time with his family have prompted another former Springbok to bring the curtain down on a distinguished professional career.
After more than 300 senior appearances across 16 years, Francois Venter has announced his retirement from rugby, saying his body made it clear the time had come to move on.
“The decision to retire came with time. My body told me the time was right to focus on another part of my life. It’s time to put my energy into something else,” the 35-year-old told Rapport.
MORE: Polly pulled hammy, Sacha back to tackle Pumas
The bruising Sharks midfielder said a severe head knock during his career gave him a new perspective on what matters most.
“I just felt it was the right time to close this chapter of my rugby career and focus on my family. I got a huge fright with my concussion. There are more important things in life.”
The former Grey College star fulfilled a lifelong ambition by becoming Springbok No 877, earning seven Test caps between 2016 and 2017 after making his debut against England at Twickenham.
Although he admitted he would have loved a longer international career, he has no regrets.
“Before I made the decision to retire, I always wondered whether what I’d done was enough. My biggest dream was to play for the Springboks and have a successful professional career.
“Obviously I would have liked to play more Tests, but that wasn’t in the Lord’s plan.”
Photo: David Rogers/Getty Images
The post Bok centre calls it a day appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Bok centre retires after ‘huge fright’
A concussion scare and a growing desire to spend more time with his family have prompted a Springbok to hang up his boots.
After more than 300 senior appearances across 16 years, Francois Venter has decided to retire from rugby.
“The decision to retire came with time. My body told me the time was right to focus on another part of my life. It’s time to put my energy into something else,” the 35-year-old told Rapport.
The bruising Sharks midfielder said a severe head knock gave him a new perspective on what matters most.
“I just felt it was the right time to close this chapter of my rugby career and focus on my family. I got a huge fright with my concussion. There are more important things in life.”
MORE: Polly pulled hammy, Sacha back to tackle Pumas
The former Grey College star fulfilled a lifelong ambition by becoming Springbok No 877, earning seven Test caps between 2016 and 2017 after making his debut against England at Twickenham.
Although he admitted he would have loved a longer international career, he has no regrets.
“Before I made the decision to retire, I always wondered whether what I’d done was enough. My biggest dream was to play for the Springboks and have a successful professional career.
“Obviously I would have liked to play more Tests, but that wasn’t in the Lord’s plan.”
Photo: David Rogers/Getty Images
The post Bok centre retires after ‘huge fright’ appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Erasmus hands out pass mark as thoughts turn to Pumas
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus turned his thoughts to the next assignment against Argentina in two weeks’ time after giving the Springboks a pass mark from a 43-0 victory over Wales in a Nations Championship match in Durban.
Erasmus said a squad of 26 would be sent to South America while a group of 15 or 16 players remained behind with some coaches to prepare for Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry against New Zealand in August and September.
“To get 43 points and to keep them to nil – we’re satisfied with that,” said Erasmus.
“Forty-three-nil was definitely better than last week – certainly defensively – but it’s easier to defend on a wet field like that – and we had no injuries, so that’s good.
“I think we’ve got a little bit better in every game of the Nations Championship but as we’ve been rotating it does take cohesion away.”
Erasmus said the conditions were deceptively difficult which led to a succession of handling errors: “We saw world-class players make a few knocks-on in this game. The field is really slippery, and you could feel it in the warm-up – that it was really greasy.
“It was tough to play an expansive, pretty game in weather like that against a team that really wanted to defend.
“But we didn’t lose a lineout ball and, while we weren’t on our game in the scrums last week, we were good today – our maul stopping and mauling itself was good. It was something that we wanted to get right so we had a lot of fixes that we got right.
“In this game we leant that our defence was better than last week – we worked really hard on that – and then our set piece was really solid. And I think some guys handled the pressure of test match rugby better than they did last week. I think a lot of guys came through this test with ticks against their name.”
Vusi Moyo – the youngest flyhalf in Springbok history at 20 years and 27 days – came through his baptism of fire as Erasmus continued working on Springbok depth.
“He definitely played well,” said Erasmus.
“You could see there were nerves. He’s a really accurate kicker; kicks off well but you get into a test match like this; with a lot of people in the crowd, the ball is wet and suddenly you don’t kick it into the corners and you don’t get your kick offs on the spot.
“I thought he handled it extremely well. But I’ve been there; in your first or second test you’re tried because of the nerves and I thought his tyres were a little pap (flat) in the second half when we took him off.”
Erasmus said Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu would be ready for the Argentina tour, although Handre Pollard had pulled his hamstring, as the coach looked ahead: “Argentina is going to be tough – like Wales they’ve had our number a few times and our biggest loss was to them since we’ve been together from 2018. We are just trying to build our game and I think today was another step forward.”
Issued by SA Rugby Communications
The post Erasmus hands out pass mark as thoughts turn to Pumas appeared first on SportsClub.
Jan-Hendrik taking his shots at the rock
Watching his Springbok teammates demolish their rivals at scrum time has inspired utility front-ranker Jan-Hendrik Wessels to make every minute on the field count.
The 25-year-old, who has scored two Test tries since debuting against Portugal in 2024, earned his 12th cap off the bench in Saturday’s 43-0 win over Wales in Durban.
The Bok scrum dominated the visitors at Kings Park, laying the platform for the likes of wings Jaco Williams and Kurt-Lee Arendse to strike in the seven-try Nations Championship rout.
“We’ve always prided ourselves in the scrums,” Wessels said. “I don’t think it’s always that easy… maybe you need to take a few shots at the rock before it breaks.
MORE: Polly pulled hammy, Sacha back to tackle Pumas
“The front row that was on [Saturday] set a great standard for us to come off the bench. We don’t want to let the team down, and it motivates us to do as well as they do.”
However, the humidity in KZN also played its part, with handling errors costing the Boks an even bigger win.
“Even from the bench you could see the ball was very slippery,” Wessels noted. “The guys from Durban know it, and it’s something we don’t always realise.
“On Monday, we thought there would be rain, but the rain dried up. We tried to put a good performance together for 80 minutes.”
Wessels has become one of Rassie Erasmus’ most valuable weapons, as the Vodacom Bulls bruiser is able to seamlessly pack down at loosehead prop and hooker.
PLUS: Boks’ big bruisers take charge
“The coaches are prepping me really well in training – scrums and lineouts. They don’t throw me into the deep end,” he said. “This week playing loosehead, I trained the whole week at loosehead. I think most of my games at the Bulls were at loosehead.
“In the England game I didn’t play hooker, so I went on at loosehead. The Scotland game I went on at prop first, to calm the nerves and get comfortable with the tempo, then later moved to hooker. I enjoy it.”
With flanker Marco van Staden and tighthead prop Thomas du Toit also working on their lineout throwing, competition at hooker has intensified.
“I always tease the loose forwards that if they get slow, they’ll have to move to hooker,” Wessels joked. “But being versatile always helps.
“If something happens at hooker you’ve got a guy who can throw in at the lineouts.”
Photo: Johan Rynners/Getty Images
The post Jan-Hendrik taking his shots at the rock appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.