The Springboks' biggest critic might be right on this one

Wow - that’s some claim and in my experience of the English Premiership, it’s absolute nonsense.

In the run up to 2019 RWC we had a lot of South Africans playing in the Premiership.

Let’s start with the props - Koch, Louw & Thomas Du Toit. Each were exceptional for their clubs, Koch is an absolute hero at Saracens and did a great job for Wasps at the end of his career. Louw was loved by Quins fans and had a huge impact during his time with the club & Du Toit plays most weeks and as a Bath fan I can only say how outstanding he has been for us and will be hugely missed.

In the locks we’ve had Lood de Jager, Franco Mostert and J-L Du Preez. All 3 were very good, Lood had a lot of injury issues but the other two were both loved by Gloucester & Sale, played most weeks and put a real shift in.

Back row has seen a combination of Francois Louw, Dan Du Preez, Jasper Wisese & Van Stadden. Francois Louw was Bath’s best player, Wisese was simply immense at Leicester, Dan Du Preez has suffered with injuries and Van Stadden couldn’t get into Leicester’s first team. Not much evidence to support the claim within the article with that lot.

Faf de Klerk was all action and you could probably argue Sale got the very best from Faf. Pollard arrived with injuries and never quite looked his best for Leicester, so they may feel he wasn’t the best value but certainly wasn’t terrible.

Esterheizen has still left a hole at Quins and was simply outstanding.

Then add in Willie Le Roux at Wasps, who played numerous seasons and was very good for Wasps.

So, out of all that lot, Lood de Jager and potentially Handre Pollard are the only ones that even remotely look poor value and the rest have been great servants who were genuinely loved by their fans.

It doesn’t really stack up when you look at it like that and I am afraid the premiership lost a bit of its allure when they all left for higher money in FRA, Japan or SA. Would love to get them all back one day.

“Let me book myself in for surgery because I don’t feel like playing for my club.” Yep, these Boks are so dishonest. So hard to find something negative on the Boks to write about, let’s target the injured ones and insinuate they are staging it.

It’s as simple as this the top European clubs don’t want the marquee or regular bok internationals because they’re basically not getting their money’s worth and getting fleeced. They’ve learned their lessons at a cost. You just have to look at the amount of top SA internationals playing in France, England and Ireland. Gone are the days of Matfield, botha, Kolbe etc….smashing it up for Toulon, Toulouse etc….Bar Synman at Leinster and Thomas du toit at bath there isn’t any more. Klyen and Dweba are on the fringes. You have alot of good pro’s or possible unfounded rough diamonds these are better value. France was always the go too for the money but the kolisi debacle has definitely made owners and investors cuter and wiser. You can understand from a SA point of view not wanting top internationals getting flogged in the top 14 and i’m sure that’s why management have been steering the players towards a sabbatical in Japan playing tag rugby. In fairness it’ll prolong their careers and the Japanese clubs will get money through these players on sponsorship deals, selling products and endorsements. However from a sporting perspective on the pitch they’re getting very little out of alot of them. It seems at the moment this is the best for both sides as the SA international team are flourishing, keeping players fresh and the focus away from club rugby.. While the European teams know where they stand and can invest their money more wisely on commited, consistent and reliable players.

Oh wow. BS and his BS. I love the fact that the Boks live in his head rent free.

Signing South Africans is still a superb strategy. They remain central to winning teams across England, France and Japan.

Not so much in France.

What utter crap. Trolling at its best. Tell me little Daniel Gallan, how much did Bulshite pay you to troll with him? Honestly, don't show your intelligence here, because it's clearly non existent. How about doing proper homework? Your ALWAYS WRONG hero say something and poof, you believe it as true. How about doing your own research? Is there no proper journalists left any more?

Alright

Why was he quiet for 11 days. What happened and what made him crawl out of his hole.

Top 14 clubs have very well learnt their lessons and there is no more playing Bok. The few of them have emigrated to the short Japan league or back to SA. Very strange that World Rugby ignores club rugby when assessing the players strengths.

PSDT first joined the club in 2021, that’s 4 years of continued contract renewal. It’s insulting to Japanese clubs to assume they aren’t aware of what’s involved when you sign a double world player of the year or any other world class Bok. Contracts are clear, test duty comes first and injuries are part of the game.

“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.”

Its pretty blatant stuff. A Japanese club is basically being used to pay and train a SA international to play just International matches. If PSDT is getting paid an honest wage he should do the job he is being paid for with integrity and honesty.

Ben and this article’s author highlight a handful of Springbok examples of players who have let down their employers abroad. What about other nations players? Did Owen Farrel’s stint at racing 92 slip under the radar? Is PSDT’s case unique enough to be “newsworthy”? Or just jumping on the Ben Smith bandwagon?

For every example one can cite of a bok player stint overseas that didn’t live up to expectations one can name a South African player who has achieved legendary status for clubs abroad - over the decades that South Africans have gone over to earn Euros, Pounds and Yen.

This is why the market for SA players is so strong.

Paying players millions to play rugby is a risky business. Live with it.

Having a go at Bok players now, trying to deflect from the stench of shite emanating from his All Blacks changeroom - Ardie and Beauden will never live their mutiny down. Hard facts.

How many marquee Bok players currently ply their trade abroad? In Europe? In Japan? The split between Japan and Europe is important.

The number has dwindled. Many big names moved back to SA. Many big names have been signed up to remain in SA. And what remain abroad are mostly in Japan.

And interestingly the best up and comers are almost all in SA and on long term deals.

This tells us that while SARU supports the idea of selecting players from abroad - the strategic goal is to have as many of them in SA as possible.

The system with Japan, in particular, works very well. And is generally win-win. For a variety of reasons. The pay is good. The bodies are sustained and well looked after. The club and international seasons dovetail a little more easily.

Its a great place for more senior players (like PSDT) to play and prolong his career versus smashing his body in Europe or the republic.

The situation with PSDT is unfortunate but given (1) his injury profile - he’s been through hell and (2) his age, it’s insulting to the intelligence of clubs managing multi-million budgets that they don’t understand the risks that come with managing Human Resources who put themselves at medical risk, filling stadiums, chasing after an oval ball, weekly.

What’s more insulting to the intelligence of many more is the clickbaitey opinions of an accountant turned rugby expert from a country who is seeing a spectacular fall from grace in terms of how the game (and their Human Resources) is managed (mismanaged rather) and governed in NZ.

Pipe down, reel your neck in, or just “shut up” feels like the best response one can issue to Ben while he stews through another 18 months of All Black uncertainty.

Discuss.