There was excitement among the television pundits that the Springboks were back to make the local challenge in the United Rugby Championship stronger but the derby round that closed out the SA rugby year sent out a mixed message.
Yes, the Sharks had several Boks back and were a different team to the one that played the four overseas games that started their campaign. At the same time though you can’t ignore the problem the Bulls suddenly have at tighthead now that it has been confirmed that Bok No 3 Trevor Nyakane has left them to continue his career overseas. And while it was not the reason they lost to the Lions, the Stormers had a problem there too once Neethling Fouche was injured and will continue to do so if his injury is as serious as it appears and Bok strongman Frans Malherbe takes time to recover from his ailment.
The reason I’ve focused on the tighthead problems of the two losing teams this past weekend is because it highlights what should be a concern: SA is a tighthead factory, but so many of the best ones are now playing overseas. That goes for other positions too. While the carte blanche the Bok coach has to select overseas-based players makes the national team strong, it paradoxically also creates a potential weakness for the game in this country as a whole.
Now that Nyakane and another former Bulls stalwart Duane Vermeulen are campaigning overseas less than half of the Boks who retained the world No 1 ranking are playing their regional/club rugby out of SA.
The Bulls would not have their tighthead headache if Nyakane was still playing for them and ditto the Stormers in the wake of their potential injury crisis were Wilco Louw, another Bok tight head playing overseas, is still on their books.
I went to the Stormers game and it was great to be back in a stadium that had some semblance of a crowd again. The attendance was limited to 2,000, but after being starved of any kind of atmosphere since the pandemic first shut rugby down last March, it felt like five times that.
Being given a taste of having people back though got me saying of the future and the likelihood of provincial and regional games getting back the numbers that used to be an every weekend occurrence and I have to say I am not hugely confident.
The previous week I was in Durban for the game that never happened between the Sharks and the Scarlets. Before it was cancelled, I asked some Durban mates who over the years have treated Kings Park as a second home if they were going to be there and was told that they wouldn’t be. It wasn’t just the crowd limit of 2,000 that was putting them off, but the fact they’d fallen into a new habit of turning games into a social occasion at someone’s house.
Most disturbing from the local rugby business perspective was they were saying of not renewing the lease on the hospitality suite they watch games from and neither did they intend renewing season tickets. That may seem a one-off anecdotal experience, but it is in line with a trend that was starting to develop across the local game even before Covid-19.
The Boks play about 12 games a year, meaning they are in action on 12 Saturdays. Each big venue gets to host one Test a year, and sometimes none. That is not enough to sustain the business and for the rugby business in this country to flourish we do need to return to the days where there were frequently upwards of 20,000 people at provincial games at venues in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town.
There are myriad factors that contributed to the pre-Covid-19 decline in numbers, but the erosion of the franchise strength because of the outflow of players to overseas clubs is a big part of it. It wasn’t that long ago that Ellis Park was heaving when the Lions were challenging for Super Rugby honours and we are just a decade on from the halcyon days at a packed Loftus when the Bulls were enjoying success. In both instances marquee players were lost and with it went the crowds and the buzz.
It would be naive to suggest the Boks move away from choosing overseas-based players but creating a favourable environment and economy for players to stay by moving towards private ownership would provide a counter to the outward migration. The Sharks have already started to show that since the arrival of their US investors.
Western Province, who’ve lost a clutch of big players, including their captain, to both the Sharks and overseas in recent months, should be kicking themselves for spurning the MVM overtures.
Foreign investment should be first prize for obvious reasons, but any big money should be eagerly embraced to ensure there’s a buzz about rugby even when the Boks aren’t in action.
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