RG Snyman SPRINGBOK lock RG Snyman (right) signed a Leinster contract extension this week, while Kwagga Smith (left) plays his club rugby in Japan. | AFP
Image: AFP
Despite the announcement of two major sponsors for the Springboks and SA Rugby this week, Jake White doesn’t believe that it will necessarily benefit the four major local franchises.
The Bulls director of rugby again voiced his desire to have top Boks such as RG Snyman playing in Mzansi instead of overseas ahead of his team’s United Rugby Championship clash against Zebre in Pretoria on Saturday.
White has managed to lure a few seasoned SA campaigners to Loftus Versfeld over the last few years, including Willie le Roux, Wilco Louw, Akker van der Merwe, Cobus Wiese and Jannes Kirsten – with the latest being star flyhalf Handré Pollard, who will return to Pretoria next season from Leicester Tigers.
But for the Bulls, Sharks, Stormers and Lions to be truly competitive in the Champions Cup, Challenge Cup and URC, White believes all those overseas-based Boks such as Snyman must be playing their rugby in South Africa.
The issue was in the spotlight after Bok lock Snyman produced another influential display for Leinster against the Bulls last weekend, and the Irish visitors nearly pulled off a memorable victory despite fielding a team shorn of their Six Nations stars as they went down 21-20 to a last-gasp David Kriel penalty.
When asked at Friday’s Bulls team announcement about whether SA Rugby’s new sponsorship deals with FNB and Pick n Pay – rumoured to be worth over R200 million – will result in the national body being able to bring back more Boks like Pollard home, White didn’t think that would be the case.
“I’m obviously not involved in that, but I would say that it’s irrelevant how much money SA Rugby if the decision isn’t for those players to come back,” the 2007 World Cup-winning Bok coach said.
“I don’t think one is linked with the other. So, I don’t think the more money we get, the more chance there is of getting players back.
“A guy like Pollard’s come back, and that’s not a money-based thing – he wants his kid to grow up in South Africa, it suits his timing...
“I will say it again, and I will keep banging the drum. We had one of the best forwards in the world playing against us for Leinster (in RG Snyman).
“Would (Antoine) Dupont be allowed to go and play in Japan? Would French rugby allow it – not, would he go? He is one of the best players in the world, as RG is a forward.
“And I think it’s wrong. I know people out there will watch this thing, and podcasts will look at the things you post and say, ‘Jake says (this and that)’.
“But it wouldn’t happen in any other sport. It is irrelevant how much money there is. If you want to be a Springbok, you must play in South Africa.
“We mustn’t kill the goose that lays the golden egg. I’m sitting in a room that says Investec. What happens if Investec don’t put money in because the best players aren’t playing in these competitions?
“Then we’re going to say, ‘But how come?’.”
While Pollard will be back in SA next season and Le Roux is also at the Bulls, the Sharks have also signed World Cup winners such as Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth and Vincent Koch from overseas clubs, while Cobus Reinach will join the Stormers from Montpellier next season.
But there are several top operators playing abroad that Bok coach Rassie Erasmus still calls upon, including recently-crowned SA Rugby Player of the Year Cheslin Kolbe, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Malcolm Marx, Damian de Allende, Jesse Kriel, Thomas du Toit, Faf de Klerk, Lood de Jager, Franco Mostert, Kwagga Smith and others.
At least Arendse is coming back to the Bulls from his Japan sabbatical later this season, but White is adamant that getting top Boks back will not only benefit the franchises, but also the Currie Cup provincial unions and attract even more sponsors.
“So, I go back to what I said: if I look at RG, RG should be playing for a South African franchise – that’s how it should be,” the Bulls coach said.
“And the best players in the world should be playing for their franchises. Then we will be competitive in everything.
“Then the model that works in SA rugby is that we have the best players available, you can pick whoever you want, and it works anyway because the best players are available at franchise level.
“It’s not a money thing. People say it’s a money thing, but something has to give. Surely there must be a decision that if you want to be a Springbok, you must play in South Africa, because we need the four franchises to be strong.
“And we need the eight Currie Cup unions – and I say eight, because we can have eight if we bring all those players back.
“The eight, or the 10, Currie Cup unions will be stronger, and therefore, it’s a win-win for everybody.
“But we must be careful. There’s going to be a time when the big sponsors are not going to put money into the local game, because the best players aren’t here.
“It’s happened in every other sport, so why would rugby be different?
I” would love for RG to play for us. We don’t get to sign Jordie Barrett or Rabah Slimani (like Leinster have done), because we don’t pick foreign-based players.
“So, if we don’t pick foreign-based players – which we don’t – then surely we must have the best players in South Africa, playing for us.
“I just think it would make so many things so much simpler. And, you know what, maybe I must turn it on its head – maybe we will get even more money, because the sponsors would say we have the best players in South Africa actually playing for the four franchises.
“Who knows, maybe that’s the trick we’re missing.”