The Springboks' biggest critic might be right on this one

I hate to admit it, but Ben Smith has a point.

The Kiwi with the unmatched ability to get under the skins of South African rugby fans, coaches and, yes, even journalists, broke an 11-day silence on X to take aim at the Boks.

“Signing big name Springbok stars is possibly the dumbest deal any overseas club can make,” Smith mused. “All they do is take the money & sandbag themselves, they aren’t going to play much. But all of a sudden they are available [for] internationals. Smells dishonest with zero honour.”

This came a day after it was announced that Pieter-Steph du Toit would be sidelined with a shoulder injury, keeping him out of action until the middle of the year. It meant that the two-time winner of World Rugby’s Player of the Year award would miss the rest of season for his Japanese club, Toyota Verblitz, but would be back in time for the Springboks’ home Nations Championship matches, as well as their series against the All Blacks.

Du Toit has played just three games for his club this season. His first in December was his first club match for 587 days. In that same period he represented his country 16 times.

Smith wasn’t alone in taking aim at what some critics have been pointing out for years. That the truly elite Springboks, those who have lifted two World Cups as well as every other trophy available in the Test game, have not reached the same heights with their clubs.

Siya Kolisi’s stint at Racing 92 was an unmitigated disaster, culminating in the club owner Jacky Lorenzetti calling the Boks skipper “transparent”. Eben Etzebeth’s 40-match spell at Toulon wasn’t quite the same car crash, but it coincided with a barren period for a club that once conquered Europe with the help of South African muscle a generation before.

One could cherry-pick other examples. Leicester Tigers routinely shared their frustrations that they never saw the best of Handre Pollard. Cheslin Kolbe, despite winning two Champions Cups and a Top 14 with Toulouse, still divides opinion in Japan where he has blown hot and cold for Suntory Goliath.

So, is Ben Smith right? Not exactly. Because what he’s doing is diagnosing a symptom, not the cause.

The problem isn’t that Springbok stars are dishonest, or that they are consciously “sandbagging” their clubs. It’s that the ecosystem they operate in makes it almost impossible for elite South African internationals to reproduce their Test-level performances week in, week out for overseas teams. And crucially, that ecosystem is unlike anything that exists in England, France, New Zealand or Ireland.

Those nations either restrict overseas selection entirely, or operate under centralised contracts that tether players emotionally and physically to their clubs. A Leinster player cannot treat Ireland as a separate, elevated plane of existence. An All Black has to earn his Test jersey through Super Rugby excellence. Even in France, where the Top 14 is a gravitational force of its own, the national side is fed almost exclusively by domestic form.

South Africa is different.Since the lifting of selection restrictions, the Springboks have become a national team first, and everything else second. Club rugby – even at URC or European level – is no longer the proving ground for those who have already established themselves in the national team. It is the holding pattern. Conditioning blocks, rest protocols and load management are all designed with one aim: peak performance in green and gold.

That doesn’t mean Springboks don’t care about their clubs. But it does mean that the emotional ceiling is fixed. No domestic fixture, no Top 14 derby, no Japanese league playoff can replicate what it feels like to run out at Ellis Park or Loftus wearing a Springbok jersey, knowing the entire rugby country is invested in the outcome. For senior Boks, even those still playing in South Africa, that switch simply cannot be flicked on every Saturday.

Which brings us back to the marquee signings. When clubs like Racing 92 or Toulon signed Kolisi and Etzebeth, they weren’t just buying elite players. They were buying symbols. Leaders. Cultural drivers. These were motivated by commercial interest as much as their potential impact on the pitch. They expected those players to import Springbok intensity wholesale, to lift standards by osmosis, and to dominate in exactly the same way they do at Test level.That expectation was always unrealistic and that’s on the clubs, not the players.

There is one notable exception within South Africa itself. The Stormers, under John Dobson, have managed to extract genuine, sustained excellence from their Springboks. The reason is simple: they have attached the act of playing to representation. Not just of a franchise, but of a city. Cape Town matters to those players. It means something. It gives domestic rugby a narrative weight that most clubs – at home or abroad – simply cannot manufacture. As a result they are comfortably the best South African franchise.

That lesson should matter to overseas recruiters. Signing South Africans is still a superb strategy. They remain central to winning teams across England, France and Japan. But the smart money is not on the crowned kings. It’s on the climbers. The players who need club rugby to elevate themselves, not the ones already assured of Test selection.

Think André Esterhuizen, Wilco Louw, Thomas du Toit and Boan Venter. Before them Faf de Klerk, Franco Mostert and Vincent Koch took their games to higher planes abroad. Cast your eye at any of the top leagues around the world, scroll through the squad lists of the leading sides. Almost certainly there’ll be a South African contributing to the cause. Players on the cusp, or on the fringe, or in need of reinvention. For them, club rugby isn’t a holding pattern – it’s the point.

So yes, Smith is right that some marquee Springbok signings disappoint. But it isn’t dishonour. It’s design. And until overseas clubs stop confusing Springbok fame with Springbok hunger, the cycle will continue, to the benefit of the national team, if not always the one signing the cheque.