Johannesburg - When Jurie Roux was appointed Saru CEO in 2010, he stated one of his major tasks would be to try and keep as many of South Africa’s young players in this country.
At that stage there were hundreds of South Africans playing rugby abroad and right now, six years later, there are probably well over a thousand South Africans earning an income from playing in the UK, France and Japan.
Now, as South Africa tries to figure out what the hell is going on with the Springboks and trying to find answers for their pitiful performances this year, perhaps we need look no further than at what Roux and many others called a “crisis” some years ago... and that is the fact this country’s rugby is bleeding because our depth is no longer as strong as it once was.
Roux and many others have lamented the player drain and it would seem if we want an answer as to why the Boks are struggling under Allister Coetzee, we need look no further than the fact many of our best players are now “lost” to South Africa. And, there’s nothing we, or Saru, can do about it.
The big sports money is overseas - and who wouldn’t go to France or the UK or Japan and cash in when the going’s good?
That is why the Boks are struggling.
Those men who Coetzee picked for the series against Ireland and the two recently played Tests against Argentina are not bad players; in fact many of them have been the best in their positions for many years and in this year’s Super Rugby competition.
Some are experienced and have done the business before, others are the form men. They don’t become poor overnight or when they put the green and gold jersey over their shoulders, so why are the majority of them not performing?
Yes, we can look at the coaching team, yes we can blame the fact many of them haven’t played alongside each other before and yes, we can argue we must be patient. All of these factors are relevant, but we also need to accept that if we look back over the 2015 and 2016 Super Rugby seasons - when things have started to go bad - South Africa has battled, big time.
Last year only the Stormers featured in the play-offs, and only because they were South African conference winners. The reality is they finished with 45 log points - seventh best overall. They should not have played in the “quarter-finals”. The other SA sides were eighth, ninth, 11th and 12th.
New Zealand had three teams out of six in the play-offs and it should have been four, but the Crusaders lost out because of the conference system.
This year it was only the Lions who came good, even though the Stormers reached the quarter-finals and then got a hiding at Newlands, by the Chiefs.
If we’re honest with ourselves and look at this year’s Super Rugby competition and pick a form team across all four countries, how many South Africans would actually make that side? Not too many, maybe a few Lions players, but no-one from another South African franchise. That is not good enough. And that is why the Boks are struggling.
There’s just not enough competition among our players. And, as good as the Lions were as a team, maybe the individuals were not as good in isolation as we thought. Sure, some performed well, and continue to do so, but who across South Africa really had “world class” written on him?
The Star