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The Rugby Pod - Stransky & Brits


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Schalk Brits joins us to explain how he went from sipping mojitos to coming out of retirement for the Springboks. South Africa’s World Cup winning hero from 1995 Joel Stransky also joins the Pod to compare that historic occasion 23 years ago to Saturday when Siya Kolisi led out the Boks. Plus, we discuss Ireland in Australia, the refereeing in New Zealand v France, look ahead to all of the second Tests and much more.

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Hemispheres collide in the new Nations Championship. Stream live, replays and highlights free on RugbyPass TV.

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Phantom 37 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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