SA Rugby defends Bulls' Champions Cup travel plans after Jake White criticism

SA Rugby said late on Tuesday it had no choice but to book the Bulls' players and coaches on eight separate flights for this weekend's Champions Cup quarter-final with Northampton.

Earlier in the day, the Bulls' director of rugby Jake White had slammed the decision by the governing body before Saturday's last-eight game in England.

READ | 8 different flights: Bulls' travel chaos fears come to pass ahead of Northampton showdown

The quarter-finals ties were only confirmed late on Sunday, giving SA Rugby a short window of time to buy tickets for the 38-person travelling party.

"SA Rugby provided 38 flights for the Bulls' Champions Cup quarter-final squad - 33 in business class and five in economy class. The playing squad will arrive in London before 08:00 local time on Wednesday having travelled overnight in business class on two airlines: British Airways (24 players and management) and Lufthansa (4 players and management). The coach and CEO also flew directly to London overnight on Virgin in business class. The balance of eight of the tour squad (four management and four players) travelled via Zurich, Doha, and Dubai," SA Rugby said in a statement.  

"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 (Sunday evening) made it well-known to all parties that securing business class seats on a single flight would be impossible.

"Pre-booking seats was discounted as an option in view of the potential risk of loss of 100 percent of the flight cost for a group booking, should it not be required as it was unknown until 48 hours before departure whether the Bulls would qualify, or be