SA Rugby Union concerned by overseas player exodus

Transformation, transformation, transformation - that is the word being drummed into all involved in South African rugby.

But there are other problems facing whoever the new Springbok coach is ... and one of them is the concern that South African players are leaving for more lucrative opportunities abroad.

It has been reported that SARU have signed around 20 players on contracts ahead of 2016, with the likes of Lood de Jager, Damian de Allende, Eben Etzebeth, Pat Lambie, Handre Pollard, Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Adriaan Strauss and Beast Mtawarira all having put pen to paper.

That is certainly good news for the Springboks moving forward, and SARU president Oregan Hoskins said last week that the Union is doing all it can to keep the best players in the country.

"It’s a massive concern for me and for SARU. It’s much bigger than us as an organisation," he said.

"One of the biggest reasons for that is that state of our economy, our currency … that is the biggest pull-out factor that causes our players to go abroad.

"It’s something out of our control but we have to do the best we can in the circumstances. We’re really trying to do the best we can."

While former coach Heyneke Meyer had no issues picking overseas-based players in his Springbok squad, Hoskins could not say what the philosophy of the new coach would be moving into 2016.

"Heyneke did play overseas players, I’m not sure what the new coach will say, but it’s a dynamic situation," saod Hoskins.

"Australia and New Zealand have got a whole lot of players playing overseas as well."

Hoskins added that SARU had made great strides in their attempts to move towards a central contracting system.

"Our operational side of the business has been working frantically over the last few years to move towards a central contracting model," he said.

"I’ve read in the media recently about how SARU is paying players big money to keep them here … about how we’ve moved towards a central contracting system. So I think we’ve moved quite a bit."

Source: Sport24