The continuous flow of Southern Hemisphere rugby players to the Northern Hemisphere has become an all too familiar occurrence in rugby circles, with announcements of newly signed contracts happening on an almost daily basis.
The players cannot be blamed for this as most Southern Hemisphere currencies are not as strong as those found in the Northern Hemisphere and they have to consider their own future. Originally, it was players nearing the end of their careers who looked North to supplement their retirement nest egg. More recently, much younger players have also been lured by the strength of the Euro. Twenty two year old Paul Willemse (to Grenoble) and twenty one year old Jacques du Plessis (to Montpellier), both from the Vodacom Bulls, are two very recent examples of this trend.
To counter this, all of the Southern Hemisphere rugby playing nations have to decide how they will react to this exodus of players in order to protect their playing resources and the strength of their national teams. Let’s take a look at how each of the affected nations are dealing with the issue of their offshore internationals.
New Zealand
The New Zealand Rugby Union have the simplest ruling to interpret. Any players plying their trade outside of New Zealand are not eligible for All Black selection. This position was reviewed recently and the decision was made to retain the current status.
South Africa
The South African Rugby Union probably has the most fluid arrangement of all of the Southern Hemisphere unions. Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer is free to select overseas based players, but SARU can veto his selection if they feel there is a better player who is based locally, or if he has selected too many overseas based players. The danger here is that Meyer could be forced to select a player who may be performing well in Super Rugby or the Currie Cup, but might not necessarily fit his desired pattern of play. SARU really do not have much of a choice in allowing European and Japanese based players to be selected as the weak South African currency means that they are unable to match the remuneration offered to lure their top players.
Australia
Until recently, the Australian Rugby Union’s selection policy was the same as that of New Zealand. The decision has since been made to allow players who are playing in Europe or Japan who have played at least 60 Test matches for Australia or who have played Super Rugby for 7 years to be available for selection for the Wallabies. Their hand has been forced as the player drain to Europe has robbed them of of some of their already thin player base.
Argentina
As the game in Argentina is largely amateur, the UAR have had no option other than to select their overseas based players whenever they can. The bulk of their players are contracted to clubs in France, with a few in England. There is some light at the end of this tunnel for them now that they have been awarded a Super Rugby franchise and have an opportunity to keep some of their top players in the country to help develop the strength of their local game.
The Pacific Islands
The island nations of Samoa, Fiji and Tonga are unfortunately the worst off of all the Southern Hemisphere nations as they do not have the professional structures in place in order to retain their best players. They also do not have any significant sponsorships in order for them to be able to offer their top echelon of players a contract which presents them with an incentive to stay and play in their home nations. They select their players as and when possible, which is generally only during Rugby World Cups. They possess fantastic natural talent, but teams cannot develop mature patterns of play and defensive systems if they do not spend long periods of time together.
This situation is not unique to the Southern Hemisphere, with Steffon Armitage of England currently attracting a lot of attention with his rich vein of form for Toulon over the last few seasons. The England Rugby Football Union also subscribe to the notion of only selecting home based players, but have recently added the proviso of “exceptional circumstances”. We keenly await to to see if exceptional circumstances includes the name of Steffon Armitage.
There is no easy way out of this situation as players will naturally be attracted by the lucrative contracts which are on offer. Is this continuous churn of players the new normal? I think so…
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