For the Bulls’ quarterfinal Champions Cup match against Northampton this coming weekend, South African Rugby said on Tuesday that it was forced to schedule the players and coaches on eight different flights.
Before Saturday’s match in England, the Bulls’ director of rugby, Jake White, had criticized the ruling earlier in the day.
Due to the late confirmation of the quarterfinal matches on Sunday, SA Rugby had a limited amount of time to purchase tickets for the 38-person traveling group.
“Media will appreciate that the high demand for business class seats in and out of South Africa, allied to the reduced number of flights into the country and the late confirmation of the required seats made it well-known to all parties that securing business class seats on a single flight would be impossible,” SA Rugby stated.
“In light of the possibility of losing all of the flight costs for a group reservation if pre-booking wasn’t necessary—since it wasn’t known 48 hours prior to departure whether the Vodacom Bulls would qualify and, if so, where they would play—pre-booking seats was discounted as an option.
“SA Rugby believes that the flights sourced by SA Rugby for the Vodacom Bulls (at a cost to SA Rugby of R4 108 449.00/ $222,639) represent the very best outcome it was possible to achieve in the circumstances,” it stated.
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