Why are people making a fuss about the time of day the Springboks are playing rugby Down Under?
It’s not like these manne are staying up past their bedtime because of an 8pm kickoff.
Besides, they do it all the time in Super Rugby games, so they should be used to it.
Unless of course the Boks’ management feel that touring South African teams have been getting it wrong all the time.
Rassie Erasmus is yet to lead his team to victory on foreign soil, with the defeat in Argentina a fortnight ago really getting under the skin - the Pumas are raaking gewoond aan ons now and winning too often.
They also failed to beat Wales in the USA in Rassie’s first match in charge.
Now they head to Australia where they have won one Test match in their last nine tries.
We’ve been terrible tourists.
This game in Brisbane is a must-win for a side who must be short on confidence after the squad was reshuffled quite a bit for the Brisbane clash.
There is a whole new centre pairing from the last outing - Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel see Sharks duo Lukhanyo Am and Andre Esterhuizen drop out of the match-23 - to go alongside Elton Jantjies at No.10, where Handre Pollard has been a nightmare.
It’s a trio who have experience of playing together in the Green and Gold and hopefully it solves some of the problems.
Then Rassie has also named Cheslin Kolbe on the bench after last Friday’s “shock call-up”.
Kolbe should give the Bokke more energy and pace once the Aussies get their bout of fatigue in the match.
But now it could be down to the kickoff time and the Boks’ own energy levels.
It’s the nice way of taking our attention off the fact that we may just be a homesick side by saying we are a side that needs to get to bed earlier.
However, if they really are worried about the players’ energy levels at that time of the evening, then there are a number of ways to get them ready.
Telling them to take an afternoon nap is an obvious one. Maybe they have to approach some of them a bit differently - try calling it a disco nap or a power nap.
But in all seriousness, many Super Rugby games I’ve been to that have kicked off at 7.15pm, I’m usually yawning by the end of the game, trying to keep the cold out at Newlands.
The Boks should really not be worried about this kind of thing.
Common sense says they should sleep earlier the night before the game and let their schedule run an hour later to what they are used to here at home.
And there is that home thing again.Maybe just make them think they are at home. Forget about the time and have a braai before the game, tog.
The only time the Bokke must worry about is that it’s time that they win a game away from home.