News of a much increased salary cap for the Stormers, Sharks, Bulls and Lions would have come as huge relief as the game elsewhere buckles under financial strain.
The financial challenges facing clubs in the UK and France are well documented but South African teams will soon have more to play with.
Given their limited budget and squad sizes, the country’s franchise coaches who compete in Europe have lamented their inability to compete on three fronts. They don’t agree on much but on this topic Stormers coach John Dobson and his Bulls counterpart Jake White sing from the same hymn sheet.
Their resources are stretched, competing in the Champions Cup, the United Rugby Championship and the Currie Cup. Squad sizes look set to increase from 45 to 53 but the primary reason for raising the salary cap from R67.2m to R85m per annum is rooted in quality, not quantity.
Still, it should help reduce the gap between South Africa’s teams in Europe and some of the big spenders in the northern hemisphere.
Some clubs north of the equator have been operating above their means, with Premiership clubs collectively running up debt of more than R7bn. It had dire consequences for Worcester Warriors and Wasps.
Clubs in the Top 14 are also facing the pinch, especially as they struggle to rake in pre-lockdown profits. Increasingly they are offloading star players or offering them significant pay cuts, as Bok dynamo Cheslin Kolbe recently discovered.
Though the local cap increase has not officially been announced, SA Rugby president Mark Alexander insists the organisation remains vigilant against excessive spending. “If there is to be an increase, it will be with the aim of keeping our top players in the country,” he said.
“The country needs to retain its top talent. The best four, five players have to be convinced to stay, but players leave for different reasons. Some want the passport of another country, others don’t want to travel so much and leave for player welfare reasons. Older players might leave because they seek one big last payday.
“We can no longer have bloated squads. We have to keep the numbers at a manageable level.”
Significant rise
Under proposals still to be ratified the salary cap is in for a significant rise. Raising the cap to R85m and increasing the squad number to 53 is a big deal but perhaps not as significant as the proposal that each franchise have at least four players who aren’t bound by the constraints of the salary cap.
If there is to be an increase, it will be with the aim of keeping our top players in the country
— SA Rugby president Mark Alexander
That will give franchises far more breathing space to conduct their business. It is also understood the season after next, the salary cap will be raised by an additional R10m.
The South African Rugby Employers Organisation (Sareo) arrived at the new numbers with My Players, the players’ representative body that is supposed to sign off on it.
Despite the raised salary cap, Dobson believes his team still has significant catching up to do. “We are a little way off that,” the coach said about the Stormers being competitive in Europe.
“We need bigger and meaner squads. The guys playing in the Currie Cup for us are young and doing nicely but that is not going to solve our Heineken Cup problem. Not for a while. We have to have a model where, if we go to Exeter in the European Champions Cup, we should have a team back here good enough to beat Munster.
“It’s gonna happen for us over the next year when we do an equity deal. We’ll have to invest at the sharper end of the squad. Our structures for the youngsters, where we have the depth and the promise and pathways here, are absolutely brilliant.
“We just need a few more players to compete and that will come with the cap and investment into Western Province Rugby.”
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