‘There is a South African team of players overseas that would strengthen our rugby. It is time to put a system in place that lures these players back and ensures our players in their late 20s don’t do a runner.’
I wrote this on March 8 2006. It could have been written yesterday.
This was the XV I identified to make the point of the quality of South African players based overseas: 15. Thinus Delport (Worcester), 14. Shaun Payne (Munster), 13. Andre Snyman (Leeds), 12. Trevor Halstead (Munster), 11. Breyton Paulse (Clermont), 10. Jaco van der Westhuyzen (Japan), 9. Norman Jordaan (France), 8. Shaun Sowerby (Stade Francais), 7. Warren Brosnihan (Calvisano), 6. Jake Boer (Gloucester), 5. Selborne Boome (Northampton), 4. Hottie Louw (Llanelli), 3. Cobus Visagie (Saracens), 2. Danie Coetzee (London Irish), 1. Daan Human (Toulouse).
Back then I wrote that even more disconcerting was how many South African players had gone on to play international rugby for other countries between 2000 and 2005.
I listed: Stuart Abbott (England), Geoff Appleford (England), Matt Stevens (England), Michael Horak (England), Clyde Rathbone (Australia), Dan Vickerman (Australia), Carlo del Fava (Italy), Roland de Marigny (Italy), Gert Peens (Italy), Pieter de Villiers (France), Brian Liebenberg (France), Stephen Hall (France), Hal Luscombe (Wales) and Roland Reid (Scotland).
Many more followed.
Stormers and Springboks scrumhalf Neil de Kock joined Saracens in September 2006 and played 250 matches for the English club. Another Stormer, hooker Schalk Brits, joined Saracens in 2009 and played 216 matches.
Half the Boks’ 2019 and 2023 World Cup winning squads were based overseas at the time of winning back-to-back World Cups
Springbok loose-forward Joe van Niekerk found a home and a rugby history at Toulon and played 122 matches between 2008 and 2014.
Fast forward to 2024 and the column written in 2006 would not be out of place. South African born and raised players represent other countries and there are numerous South Africans starring for overseas clubs across the globe.
Half the Boks’ 2019 and 2023 World Cup winning squads were based overseas at the time of winning back-to-back World Cups.
What is changing is the quality of established Springbok and South African players returning to South Africa and the number of brilliant young South African players who have signed to South Africa’s United Rugby Championship quartet.
In the past fortnight, Steven Kitshoff confirmed his return to Cape Town after one season for Belfast-based Ulster. Kitshoff, who captained the Stormers to the inaugural URC title, said he returned to win more titles with the Stormers and a third successive World Cup with the Springboks.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, just 22 years-old and one of the most exciting flyhalf talents in the country, on Friday confirmed he had again signed with the Stormers, until 2027.
Damian Willemse, the best utility back now playing professional rugby, confirmed a similar loyalty to John Dobson and the Stormers in 2023.
Dobson had identified a DNA strand with the Stormers that made players want to stay and others want to return.
Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber, on their return to South Africa in 2018 after two seasons with Munster in Ireland, immediately identified a Springboks DNA and selected players they felt aligned to this DNA. It brought them two successive World Cup titles.
(Daan) Human, the Springboks scrum coach at the 2023 World Cup, is another of those South Africans who spent his best playing days overseas, but has returned to South Africa to give this country’s rugby another leading light in the game as a specialist positional coach.
Human, who played 26 matches for the Stormers, made his Springboks debut in 2002 and played in four winning Tests. He then joined Toulouse in France and would become an icon at the club, playing 169 matches and winning the Champions Cup (then the Heineken Cup) twice, in 2005 and 2010.
Springbok rugby crucially once again has an identity that got lost during South Africa’s participation in the southern hemisphere Super Rugby.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.