Bulls still have room for manoeuvring should competitions pile up, says CEO

Bulls CEO Edgar Rathbone is of the view that the Pretoria franchise will be able to deal with needed player resources once they get confirmation of the number of tournaments they will be involved in.

Rathbone revealed that details around South African teams' participation in the Champions Cup are still sketchy.

Having finished inside the top eight of the United Rugby Championship (URC), the Bulls, Sharks and Stormers are set to take part in the Champions Cup next season. The Lions will be involved in the Challenge Cup.

There also has been no confirmation on how long the Currie Cup will stretch (played over one or two rounds), but whichever way the dice rolls, they will be ready.

"We haven't received any details around the Champions Cup so it's hard to comment on it... and only once we get that information will we be able to comment on how we manage those squads," Rathbone told reporters on Wednesday.

"The reality is that we are under our [salary] cap substantially this year. Our budget on players is not determined by the salary cap alone; it's determined by fixed revenue (sponsorship, distributions from SA Rugby from broadcast rights) as well as flexible revenue (ticket and suite sales)."

In 2019, SA Rugby announced that its international franchises would have to abide by a regulation prohibiting them from spending more than R60 million on a maximum of 45 senior contracted players.

That figure was shifted upwards to R61 million last year and, for 2022, the franchises in the United Rugby Championship (URC) can spend R65.5 million on 50 players, a provision for the URC and Currie Cup running concurrently this season.

DEEP DIVE | SA Rugby's salary cap: A tricky issue that, at the very least, warrants debate

Rathbone shared that