Former Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber has spoken on the benefits of South African players plying their trade overseas, emphasising financial constraints as a key factor.
In an interview with The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast, Nienaber, who is now senior coach at Irish giants Leinster, revealed that about half of the squad during South Africa’s World Cup title wins in 2019 and 2023 comprised players based abroad.
He acknowledged the inability to match their salaries in South Africa and highlighted the positive impact on squad depth and the emergence of young talent.
“I don’t think we have the monetary strength to pay our players the value that they are valued at. If you look at the squad that we took, it’s about half and half,” Nienaber said.
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“About 15 or 16 players were plying their trade abroad and 15 or 16 plied their trade in South Africa.
“Those guys abroad, I don’t know what their salaries are, but if they were in South Africa there’s no way we would be able to pay them.
“I do think it’s good for us that they go abroad, they play there and then you can still select them if they’re good enough.
“That really helped us win two World Cups. It works for us. If you think about the locks, Eben [Etzebeth] was with the Sharks but he was abroad in 2019, then you have Franco Mostert, who’s abroad, you have RG [Snyman] and Jean Kleyn, who’s abroad.
“If all of them stayed in South Africa, there wouldn’t have been the [Ruan] Nortjes and the young guys coming through now because they would have been blocked by them. You get the new guys who are playing in the URC.
“[Playing abroad] broadens your guys’ exposure to top rugby, so it’s a good thing for us.”
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Addressing criticism of team selection alongside Rassie Erasmus, Nienaber highlighted the importance of choosing the right individuals for the team environment, and who fit seamlessly into the squad, despite public scrutiny.
He added: “The most important thing is to get the right people, not necessarily the best. When we do select the squad there’s probably players that are better than the ones we select in our squad, who are performing better, but the key thing is that they must be the right people for the environment.
“That’s why we sometimes get criticised for selecting a squad; ‘yes, this guy is on form and he’s far better than this guy.’
“You know what, the public are knowledgeable in South Africa, they are completely right, but sometimes that guy is not the right guy.”
Photo: @Springboks/Twitter