Former Springbok coach Jake White says SA Rugby’s new contracting model will see more senior players plying their trade overseas.
SA Rugby announced last week that the body will no longer directly contract Springboks, while provincial unions have agreed to a cap on player budgets.
An innovative new initiative has also been designed to encourage young talent to commit to South Africa. A player receiving a contract for the first time to play Super Rugby or Pro14 will automatically commit to make his services available to play rugby in South Africa for a period of three years, provided the player’s contract is renewed on the same or better terms on or before a specific date during this time. If such renewal offer is not made to the player on or before the specified date, the player will have no obligation to play rugby in South Africa.
In a column for AllOutRugby, White wrote that the new contracting model is contradictory.
‘Under the new contracting model, SA Rugby is actively telling players to go overseas with no fear that it will affect their chances of playing for the Springboks.
‘We’re going to call Regulation 9 whenever the Test window opens, while we’re blooding juniors in South Africa on longer-term contracts. It’s contradictory, because all of the values we’re going to be trying to instil in those youngsters don’t apply to the more senior players we’ve told to chase big contracts overseas.
‘We’ve either got to go back to saying players can’t play for South Africa if they’re based abroad, or admit that we’ve lost that fight, sell everything to the highest bidder and take the whole team overseas.’
Photo: Steve Haag/Gallo Images
