DURBAN - There was a throwaway remark from Cobus Reinach in the Northampton Chronicle newspaper yesterday that was extremely telling.
The scrumhalf was announcing his departure from the Sharks and his signing with the Saints, and while paying tribute to the Sharks for looking after him through a number of serious injuries, he added: “I hope to continue my career with the Springboks.”
This takes me back to a comment made by Jake White when it was first announced by the South African Rugby Union in 2012 that then newly-appointed Bok coach Heyneke Meyer had dispensation to select overseas-based players.
White, whatever you think of him - and few people sit on the fence when it comes to the controversial coach - said: “Saru is making a rod for the Springboks’ back. Mark my words, this will come back and bite the Boks on the backside.”
White was right on the money. Prominent South African players are leaving for overseas contracts at increasingly younger ages. Reinach at 27-years-old is one of the “older” players to be leaving for Europe.
In the past, veteran South African stars went to the UK or France for a golden handshake after their international careers were over. Compare Gary Teichmann going to Newport at the age of 32 to Johan Goosen going to France at 22.
We need no reminding that New Zealand have a strict policy of picking only home-based players for the All Blacks, with obvious results.
The best players stay in New Zealand with a hunger to play for the national team and this means their domestic competitions are healthy, both the Mitre 10 Cup (the equivalent of the Currie Cup) and Super Rugby.
By contrast, our Currie Cup grows ever weaker because so many top players are overseas. It has been estimated that around 300 South African players are earning a living in Europe and Japan. This translates into weaker Super Rugby teams and a Currie Cup that is a sad version of what it once was.
What is the solution? What will make a 25-year-old South African franchise player think twice about moving overseas?
Well it comes down to the old chestnut of the money available in South Africa for professional rugby being spread too widely instead of being concentrated on a core of super unions, let us say five franchises.
We should not be depleting our financial resources by paying semi-amateur players in Welkom, East London and Wellington, for instance.
Financial resources should be concentrated on the "Big Five" and this would lead to a greater enticement for players to stay in South Africa. We are talking about the 25-year-olds at the crossroads of their careers.
Too often a local franchise invests five years or so in a player, only to see him blossom and then head for Europe.
Last year a classic example was the Sharks centre Paul Jordaan. He is a very talented player and unfortunately spent two years on the sidelines at Kings Park because of injuries. He regained full fitness, started playing excellent rugby, and next thing was in France.
The long-term answer to South African rugby’s battle to keep in touch with the likes of New Zealand is to consolidate our financial resources around the top franchises and make the smaller unions “feeders” for the top teams.
This would mean more money to keep our best players at the top teams.
And then Saru can stop this nonsense of allowing a panic-stricken Springbok coach picking players no longer resident in South Africa.