‘Playing in Japan makes us better players’ —Jesse Kriel defends overseas-based Springboks

Bulls coach Jake White, for some time, has been advocating that the Springbok players based overseas should be brought home to strengthen the local teams, but Bok centre Jesse Kriel disagrees.

Kriel, who is based in Japan, says he has become a better player because of the cross-pollination of rugby acumen that occurs when players from all over the world are pooled together, as is the case in the Japanese teams.

Joining Kriel in the current Bok squad preparing for the Barbarians season-opener on June 28 are fellow Japan-based players in Lood de Jager, Faf de Klerk, Damian de Allende, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Cheslin Kolbe and Malcolm Marx.

That is a hefty chunk of polished Springboks.

Kriel pointed to White himself as a good example of how overseas experience can benefit a coach (or player).

“If you look at a coach like Jake, he's also coached in Japan for a few years. He coached over in France (with Montpellier) and also in Australia (Brumbies), which has probably made him a better coach.

“He probably gained a lot of IP (intellectual property) overseas from different types of players and the different ways people think, and how they want to play and approach the game,” Kriel explained.

“From my point of view, and I know a lot of the other guys share my thought process, when you go over there, you are playing with Fijians, Tongans, New Zealanders, Australians, Welsh guys, and English guys. You learn different things from everyone, and I think it's also good to observe how the game is seen differently.”

It is also documented that players can prolong their careers by playing in Japan, where the leagues are less physically arduous.

“I’ve certainly enjoyed being over in Japan,” Kriel added. “There are a lot fewer distractions compared to being back in South Africa.

"So it's been great in terms of working on our individual games, and I think the guys that return from overseas always come back into camp pretty focused and willing to work hard. I think it’s been great.”

Rassie Erasmus, sitting next to Kriel in the press conference, wanted to add to Kriel’s response.

“To put into perspective the debate about picking overseas players… If you look at the players that we’ve selected for the Springboks, I think you will find it very seldom that an overseas-based player is younger than 26 or 27. We seldom pick a young player based abroad,” the coach explained.

“I think Jasper Wiese must have been one of the youngest players that we've picked from overseas, and he was 25.

“We recently called up Juano Augustus (from Northampton), and he is 27,” Erasmus continued.

“He had been the World Rugby Junior Player of the year in 2017, and he went overseas soon after. But we did not pick him until now (after five years overseas).

“So we don't encourage a young player to go overseas, and if they do go, they know it will be difficult for us to pick them. There are very few young players that get picked from there.”