Since the Springbok squad for the upcoming Rugby Championship was announced, featuring 10 players who will be applying their trade away from South African shores, speculation has been ongoing whether there has been a shift away from picking South African based players over internationally based South Africans for the Springboks.

This week there has been some mumblings by Jurie Roux, SARU CEO, and the inclusion of Japan-based Fourie du Preez has prompted the question whether Japan’s clubs and our National team setup has moved the goal posts as far as selection of Japanese players are concerned.

Opinion is widely devided on whether the Springboks should allow foreign-based players to be eligible for Springbok selection, with the one lot saying it’s the professional era and where you are based no longer matters, as long as you are the best in your position. The result is the conundrum of player availability well before a Test. At the moment clubs overseas are only obliged to release the players to be available on the Monday preceeding the Test, which allows for very little preparation time.

On the other hand there has been the stance that overseas-based players should not be picked for the Springboks, in order to firstly discourage players leaving the SA shores for lucrative deals elsewhere, having chosen to apply their trade elsewhere and thus voluntarily choosing not to be considered for the Springboks. I was a serious proponent of this stance, but I’ve had somewhat of a mind shift, I must admit.

Certainly for the upcoming Rugby Championship, it would have been foolhardy not to pick the Springboks who have recently decided to go overseas, after all there are 6 regular starting Springboks amongst those recent departees.

I now find myself in the middle somewhere, hoping players could stay in South Africa if they aspire to continue or start their Springbok careers, yet seeing the inevitability of the lure of the stronger currencies abroad.

The solution would have been simple…. institute a CENTRALLY CONTRACTED SYSTEM here in South Africa (very similar to the New Zealand system), where SARU takes charge of the contracts of the frontline Springbok players, but that remains a pipe dream and clearly is beyond the capabilities of the inept bunch at SARU. In stead we can rely on SARU to muck things up even more and I’m afraid but I would not want their grubby hands to touch Central Contrating under those circumstances.

Another solution could be to impliment a CLEAR OVERSEAS QUOTA SYSTEM in the selection policy, where SARU regulates to the players and national coach that only 2 or 3 overseas-based players may be included in a 30-man squad. This would have put the Springboks in a conundrum situation right now before the start of The Rugby Championship, but maybe with an eye on the End Of Year Tours and beyond, that system must be applied, unless it can be negotiated that overseas-based players are available earlier and for every Test of the year, no exceptions allowed.

Below some of the news and speculation in this regard, taken from what was available in the press.

Jurie Roux on a quota for overseas based players:

The South African Rugby Union (CEO) is considering putting a quota on the number of overseas players allowed in the Springbok team.

This follows after Bok coach Heyneke Meyer picked 10 overseas players in his 30-man squad for the Boks’ home leg in the upcoming Rugby Championship.

The 10 players are: Zane Kirchner (fullback), Bryan Habana (wing), Morné Steyn (flyhalf), Ruan Pienaar, Fourie du Preez, Jano Vermaak (all scrumhalves), Francois Louw (flank) Juandré Kruger (lock), Chiliboy Ralepelle (hooker) and Gurthrö Steenkamp (prop).

In an interview with Die Burger’s website, SARU CEO Jurie Roux said they could in future have a limit on the number of overseas Boks.

“Yes, it’s something we are considering. But within the context of a constantly changing industry that is fast developing into a global sport rather than just being a national sport in terms of opportunities offered,” said Roux.

“Players playing locally will always get first consideration, provided that the selectors have faith in their abilities.

“However, we are in a unique current situation with six players (Kirchner, Habana, Steyn, Vermaak, Kruger and Ralepelle), who were part of the Bok squad this past year, now deciding to go overseas. You can’t just replace so many players in the middle of the season.

“But these players know their chances of playing for South Africa in future cannot be guaranteed.”

Roux said it could offer an opportunity for new young players to make a name for themselves but nevertheless confirmed they will be attending to the matter.

“Naturally, it is concerning and we are working on a plan to ensure that our top players do not head abroad.”

Have the Bokke shifted Japanese outlook:

According to SuperSport, Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer’s decision to include Fourie du Preez in his Bok squad may signal a major switch in dealing with the Japanese clubs, so much so that Bok players may be involved in action ahead of the Rugby World Cup despite being based in the Far East.

Meyer has made it clear again and again that he wants to pick his best squad. The increasing lure of both the Euro and Yen have the South African Rugby Union at a crossroads at the moment, to the extent that they may well decide to limit the number of overseas players available to the Bok coach in future.

With central contracting less likely to appear in South African rugby than the Yeti or Bigfoot, Meyer may be forced to make compromises in the squad he wants and with which he believes he can win the World Cup for South Africa, simply because of geographic location.

While the situation was not overwhelming in the past, with six first-choice players suddenly moving overseas after this year’s Vodacom Super Rugby competition, it now makes it a potential crisis for the Bok management, but at least one that is not a factor right now.

Up until now Meyer has decided not to select any players based in Japan, simply because it would place players in the uncomfortable position of having to choose between club and country. And often, those who pay the players’ salaries will win over test ambitions.

It has already happened in the case of Jaque Fourie, who Meyer wanted last year for the Bok squad, but who chose not to upset his employers in Japan and thereby turned down the Bok coach.

Players such as Andries Bekker, Ryan Kankowski, JP Pietersen, Fourie and Du Preez could all easily form part of a Bok squad on merit, and while Meyer accepts their decision to play abroad and how that limits their appearances in the Bok jersey, it is also a massive amount of experience to simply throw away.

In the case of Du Preez, the halfback wanted to play for the Boks from the start, but because many of the test matches clash with the Japanese season, it made it an impossible choice.

With Japanese clubs also limited to two overseas players per match, the top players, such as Fourie, du Preez and others, are kept back for the bigger clashes, making their value even more apparent to the clubs.

STRENGTHENING THE RELATIONSHIP

The Bok management have taken a new approach and seem to be willing to work alongside the Japanese clubs to ensure the players are available for some, if not all the games, and that the relationship is strengthened and not the other way around.

Meyer admitted as much when he spoke about Du Preez and his situation with the Suntory Sungoliath club.

“It is a sensitive situation. Fourie wanted to play right from the start. The type of person that Fourie is, he felt way back that perhaps it wasn’t fair because there are other guys coming through the system. There were also other challenges with the club because they don’t play a lot of games in Japan and they have good contracts. We’ve had a lot of contact over the last two years and I said to Fourie, I think he must give it one last chance and speak to the club.

“I want to thank the club, they’ve been awesome The problem is that there is a clash between the Rugby Championship and the important Japanese games, but he will also be available for the end-of-year tour. He wasn’t available before but is now, and there is a regulation that you need to play the guy.

“So we said we’d take it year by year. At this stage by talking to the club he available for certain games, and hopefully next year he will be available for all the games.”

Pietersen will also be available for the November tour, and Meyer and his management hope to get to a point where the Boks are released for games they want them for.

But like everything else in this situation, it is a minefield, one that needs to be negotiated carefully.

The Bok coach admitted there was no “hard-and-fast policy” regarding overseas players. He knows his actions can influence a lot of things – not least the local game – and could well lead to an exodus of players abroad from the second tier, not only the Springbok level.

That is why he is treading carefully. Local players will still get preference at this stage, and the more overseas players there are, the tougher it will be logistically for the Boks to plan for a season.

This week is the perfect example, when 11 of the Boks are still abroad with club commitments, and the IRB regulations only allow for players to be in camp on the Monday before a test match, making any sort of long-term preparations difficult for the Bok coach.

“At this stage there is no hard-and-fast policy. As a Springbok coach you want to pick your best side, and I’ll always want to look for home-grown and South African players first.

“The difficulty in this year is that if you look at the squad, only Fourie, Duanne (Vermeulen) and Gurthro (Steenkamp) weren’t part of the squad for the incoming tours. Suddenly all those guys have signed overseas, but they’re all still South African players who played their last games for South African teams.

“Going ahead it will be tricky, but the main thing in picking this side was continuity. We only have a week and a half to train ahead of this test and if you have to pick eight or nine new players, it is a huge challenge, especially playing the best teams in the world.

“We wanted continuity going forward and then we will relook at the situation. I just want to put it in no uncertain terms, we will always look at the home-grown players. If you look at Eben (Etzebeth) and Flip (van der Merwe), Bakkies (Botha ) is also playing some great rugby in France at the moment but we will always look at home-grown players first. It will be a tricky situation going forward.”

Tricky doesn’t cover half of the minefield that Meyer and co will have to negotiate in the next few years.

But unless Bok rugby finds a way to have their best squad available for all tests, no matter where the players are based, it will be difficult for the Boks to become No 1 in the world again.