According to national coach Rudolf Straeuli’s comments at a press conference in Cape Town this week, the increasing number of South African professional rugby players heading overseas is responsible for the slump in our game in recent years.
Straeuli said the country had lost players it should not have lost, ‘It is my long-term goal to get players back in South Africa, playing their rugby here.†He said the best 30 players would go to the Rugby World Cup, adding that he had talked with several overseas-based players who had shown interest in playing for South Africa.
He said, ‘I will only pick those players who are prepared to sacrifice for the jersey … and whose attitude and approach is an example of professionalism. If those players are not in the country … then … I will go [overseas to] find the best 30 players.â€
Straeuli said the World Cup was his priority and that he would not risk any player in the first Test match against Scotland at the risk of losing the player for the entire season. A World Cup squad of 45 players will be chosen on June 2 and selections for the Scotland and Argentina Test matches will come from this group.
Straeuli has already started finding players overseas. Robbie Kempson, who has been playing for Ulster in Ireland arrived in the country on Tuesday. Kempson will be drafted to boost his injury-plagued ex-team the Stormers in their last two Super 12 games.
Straeuli, who had predicted at the beginning of the Super 12 competition that one of our teams would reach the semifinals, was at pains to explain the teams’ poor performances.
He said that inexperience during the end of last year’s European tour and by the Cats Super 12 squad was largely to blame.
The failure by South African teams to reach the semifinals of the rugby Super 12 competition for a second consecutive year, coupled with the disastrous end of the season tour last December have instilled a sinking feeling in the rugby fraternity.
Although some fans think that the departing players were past it anyway, statistics prove otherwise. Of the 72 players contracted to clubs in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France and Italy last year, 18 were Springboks and 15 other South Africans have become internationals for their adopted countries.
At the end of the last season Western Province’s fullback Percy Montgomery, Lions’ flank Andre Vos and Sharks’ lock Mark Andrews were among those who announced their departures to the UK Rugby Union.
In an endeavour to discourage younger players from joining the exodus, the South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu) has banned players who have left the country from playing for the Springboks.
Former Ireland, British Lions and Transvaal scrumhalf John Robbie believes that rugby, like many other sports codes, is being run on business principles. Robbie said money has become the deciding factor the world over and that players’ departure should be seen as a challenge.
He argues that there will always be emerging talent to replace the departing players and that the honour of playing for one’s country will be enough to prevent younger players from flocking overseas trend.
Robbie warns against selection on criteria other than merit and believes that rugby administrators should lift the ban on overseas-based players from playing for South Africa.
Speaking in November last year, Sarfu’s strategic partner Steve Harris said South African rugby was losing its marketability. He mentioned lack of commitment and clashing values as factors that eroded rugby delivery.
The country’s winning aggregate declined from 65% in 1998 to 62% at the end of last season.