‘SA doesn’t have monetary strength to pay’ Springboks their worth — Jacques Nienaber

Two-time World Cup-winning former Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber has addressed the financial implications of having South African players plying their trade at overseas clubs.

Several of the Springboks’ 2023 World Cup winners were based abroad by the time of their selection in the squad for the tournament and in an interview with The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast, Nienaber acknowledge that it was a positive contributing factor to the team’s success, but that also stated it shows South African teams’ inability to match players salaries.

“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, who is now coaching at Leinster, 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,” the former Springboks boss added.

“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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