A quick guide to the bold plan to keep Springbok rugby afloat

SA Rugby’s director of rugby and Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus on Saturday announced a radical new contracting system to try and stop the now well-known player exodus to the lucrative overseas market.

The local governing body is particularly concerned that the trend will merely go into overdrive after this year’s World Cup in Japan.

Here’s a quick guide on what it exactly it means.

Why is the new strategy being implemented?

Erasmus sums it up well in a statement: “We have been agonising over how to keep players in the country since the game went professional more than 20 years ago and the bottom line is that the rand is too weak and the economy of South African rugby too small to compete. A South African player can earn more from a two-month contract in Japan than he can if he were to win the World Cup with the Springboks this year. That’s the reality we have to face up to.”

But there have been national contracts for several years keeping various top players here still?

Again, Erasmus sketches a useful if grim picture: “In recent years we have focused on trying to retain a small number of high profile players. But it has been a small group and many of those players end up leaving anyway. Last season those contracted players only appeared for 38 percent of their available time.

“Once we have done our work, the new strategy could see as many as 75 players in Springbok succession planning and being financially rewarded for it.”

Okay, so what is the crux of the new model then?

The top players in the country will be ranked by position through a new matrix. Players that are still playing in South Africa will be rewarded by being granted top-up payments on top of their current packages at local franchises.

The rankings are review annually and provisions are in place to adjust them during the season too in exceptional circumstances.

It says here the 30-cap eligibility rule has also been scrapped?

Technically it wasn’t really enforced in 2018 already during Erasmus’ first year as evidenced by the return of Faf de Klerk and Vincent Koch, who hadn’t played 30 Tests yet.

Now, any players that’s overseas and hasn’t qualified for an adopted country becomes available for the Boks.

But how is that then going to keep players in the country anyway?

Yes, it’s true that now a player can still earn big money overseas and not be afraid of never playing for the Boks again. However, Erasmus hopes that the strict enforcement of World Rugby’s Regulation 9 will help in that regard. That rule forces clubs to make their players available during international windows – much like soccer.

“We have told the overseas clubs that we will be enforcing Regulation 9 and will be requiring our players for up to 14 weeks of the year. If the clubs don’t like that then they have the option of not signing the player,” said Erasmus.

Final thoughts

“We’ve got to deal with the practical realities and stay focused on our objective, which is to field the best available 23 players who really want to play for the Springboks and who are prepared to make sacrifices whether they are playing here or overseas. We only have a limited budget to do that, but we have many players who have the potential to become Springboks. This way, we can give them that message in a practical way.

“They will know that there is a future for them with the Springboks and that they can move up the succession ladder if their play merits it,” said Erasmus.

For more sport your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.