Much like their players, SA Rugby have cast their eyes north in search of what is increasingly in short supply here - money. This in order to meet escalating costs like a ballooning wage bill, operational expenditure which now also includes having to fund a competition which cannot attract a sponsor.SA Rugby contends the local market can no longer sustain them and that they have to attract multinational companies to meet their ever- expanding needs.To have them say so on the record however, would fall well outside the organisation's penchant for carefully choreographed soundbites.story_article_left1One insider, however, who did not want to be named, pointed out that the Rugby Championship and the Super Rugby competition are televised in 191 countries and that that should open up all manner of commercial opportunity. The reality, however, is that SA Rugby has not cashed in on that global footprint.Since banking group Absa pulled the plug on them last year, SA Rugby in an albeit tough economic climate, has struggled to find a major sponsor for the Springboks. They're currently locked in a court battle related to the erstwhile sponsor's withdrawal.They have found the landscape equally barren when trying to find a successor for the banking group as sponsor for the Currie Cup.One prospective sponsor they negotiated with lamented the fact that rugby bosses had priced themselves out of the market. That sponsor has since invested heavily elsewhere on the local sporting firmament.That partly explains SA Rugby's decision to look abroad, but there is a school of thought that the organisation's sluggish adherence to transformation targets and its controversial top leadership makes them a less than attractive proposition, especially here at home.It was only at the 11th-hour that SA Rugby managed to secure a sponsorship for the Springboks and when they did it was only for their three-test series against Ireland.This sponsorship didn't come with all the bells and whistles. It is limited in the sense that it is match-day specific and will expire after the series. It makes sense for the sponsor, not SA Rugby who for the sake of stability and security want to conclude long-term partnerships.  Heyneke was given a mandate to identify those players that needed to be contracted. He did so just before the World Cup There are mutterings of new sponsors coming on board for the Rugby Championships and announcements are due in August.However, one way or the other SA Rugby need to boost their coffers. The insidious migration of South Africa's top talent meant the organisation has had to make some hasty decisions, not all impervious to hindsight."The remuneration cycle is from World Cup to World Cup, so it's over four years," said another insider."We are in the new cycle which kicked in last year, just after the World Cup. Obviously your top players will hold dual contracts with SA Rugby and with their franchise to keep them based in South Africa."There is a group of players [believed to be more than a dozen] who hold national contracts. Some have two-year contracts and a few have four-year contracts," the insider said without masking his incredulity.SA Rugby, in their haste to retain players post last year's World Cup concluded deals while former coach Heyneke Meyer was still in charge.story_article_right2"Heyneke was given a mandate to identify those players that needed to be contracted. He did so just before the World Cup. How he offered some of those players four-year contracts I don't understand? I doubt in the next cycle that such lengthy contracts will be concluded," said the insider.At the time there was a strong belief in the upper echelons of SA Rugby that Meyer would continue in his role post the World Cup.The team, however, underperformed in the group stages, Meyer failed to meet transformation targets and by the time the team lined up to play the All Blacks in the semifinal the Bok brand was almost toxic.Meyer stepped aside and as a consequence Allister Coetzee may well have inherited one or two individuals he wished he didn't have on the wage bill. It's early in his reign. What is unpalatable now may become staple in time to come.SA Rugby's chief executive Jurie Roux refused to be interviewed.sports@timesmedia.co.za..