Right, only those overseas-based players with more than 30 Test caps will in future be eligible to play for the Springboks. So what?
Yes, it is all well and good that the South African Rugby Union want to try and retain our best young players - and prevent them from signing up with cash-rich European clubs - but in this professional era, it’s unlikely to have the desired impact and outcome.
As long as the salaries abroad are five to 10 times more than what a player can earn in South Africa, a player will head overseas. Sure, there will be the exceptions, as there are right now, but I really don’t think it’s going to make all that much difference. But, let’s see.
The thing though, is that right now the only likely players to miss out, and who are almost certainties in a Bok team later this year, would be props Steven Kitshoff and Vincent Koch and scrumhalf Cobus Reinach, but will their ineligibility be such a setback?
Steven Kitshoff will be ineligible for the Springboks
There are more than enough quality props in South Africa; think of Lizo Gqoboka, Ruan Dreyer, Dylan Smith, OX Nche ... and those are just the ones who haven’t played for the Boks yet. And, at scrumhalf, there’s always the option of recalling Francois Hougaard, who has more than 30 caps, there’s Rudy Paige, there’s Faf de Klerk, and there’s Ross Cronje, hugely under-rated and probably the best suited man to play Test rugby.
The reality is South Africa has more than enough quality in all departments to not have to worry about picking players who’re based overseas. We’ve already seen some magnificent performances in Super Rugby and year-in and year-out new players who are ready to play on the big stages of the worlds come to the fore .
Allister Coetzee even seems reluctant to invest too heavily in overseas-based men this year and in the future. While there is no limit on the number of overseas-based players with more than 30 caps he is allowed to pick, he hinted selecting too many from foreign clubs is problematic.
He said as much when the first of three Bok training camps got underway in Joburg on Sunday. “If you have a big group of overseas-based players coming in a week before a Test it influences preparation time. You’ll only have three sessions to prepare as a squad and that is not adequate. It also has an influence on team culture ... it’s a fine balance to get right.”
While there is certainly an argument to pick your best Bok team, irrespective of where the players ply their trade, Coetzee, and all those who have gone before him, has a point that it’s not ideal; what with players not being part of any training camps and arriving in camp only days before a match.
It should not be a worry though. There is talent aplenty in this country, black and white, and the Boks should really be a dominant world rugby force – even without up to 300 overseas-based men in the mix. It’s up to Coetzee and his management team though to mould them into that world-beating force ... because the talent is there; even with a restriction on who can and can’t be picked.