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'Black players in South Africa are getting better and better... it's going to be a scary proposition'


Lions' Aphiwe Dyantyi celebrates after scoring against the Hurricanes at the weekend in Johannesburg (Photo by Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images/Getty Images)
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Former Sharks talisman John Plumtree has left South Africa with an enthusiastic nod to what he describes as a ‘scary’ future due to the calibre of improving black player talent emerging in the country.

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The Hurricanes boss, who has an intimate knowledge of the South African game from his time with the Sharks as a player for a decade and later as a coach from 2007 in Durban, guided his New Zealand team to back-to-back victories over the Sharks (30-17) and Lions (37-17) during their recent two-week Super Rugby tour.

However, while an air of pessimism exists among some people in South Africa due to the ongoing player drain due to attracting offers from European clubs, Plumtree doesn’t share those concerns due to the effects that transformation is having in producing a new wave of professional standard players.

“I know it’s a struggle to keep players in the country and that’s similar to New Zealand,” said Plumtree to rugby365.com.

“However, we back our talent, we back our development, we back our schools and our clubs and that won’t change in this country [South Africa]. It is going to get even better.

“The black players in this country are getting better and better. It’s going to be a scary proposition if it keeps happening like this. South Africa, as long as it’s well organised and the coaching is good, it is always going to be a hard place to win.

“There is still so much talent here,” continued the former Ireland assistant coach in the wake of the Hurricanes’ weekend win over the Lions. “It’s good to see so many young backs in this country, they are so quick.

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“The talent train in this country will never stop… but there are some great young players coming through that I don’t know, that have developed over the years.”

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Phantom 35 minutes ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

Fact: the gap between the North and the South has narrowed considerably - that I get. However, determining that only selecting only Home grown players or playing in the home country is is the optimal strategy is a bit of a toss up and highly reliant on the economies of the home union. I do understand that England and to a lesser degree Ireland selects home based only. The top 14 is a massive threat to their domestic product. France would probably not be affected (the money is at home). Fiji, Argentina, Samoa, Italy and you could even argue Scotland have only benefitted from this. Their players either go overseas to learn at higher levels (Fiji, Samoa, Argentina) or players coming into their leagues to strengthen the home product and their National teams (Scotland, Italy, Japan).

South Africa used to limit its selection to the home based players, but the reality of a weak currency vs what players could earn oversees meant that you lost access to your best players at some stage of their careers, with very few exceptions. Kolbe left SA as he was considered too small for International Rugby (yes coaches/selectors view), but ironically in France he forced selectors to notice his endeavors and select him. He is only reaching 50 caps now despite being north of 30 - granted rotation and the odd injury also played a role, but for the most part it is having debuted or becoming a regular so late.



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