Rassie: SA teams contract too many ‘weak’ players

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Rassie Erasmus has urged South African rugby unions to stop contracting “weak” players who don’t have a future in the pro ranks.

According to Rapport, Erasmus, who was speaking at a workshop with Sareo, the representative council of the professional and amateur rugby employers in South Africa, says too many young SA players are given false hope of a career as a professional.

“I urge you to not give a weak youngster hope that he can become a professional rugby player,” SA’s director of rugby said. “I think we need to work on putting a stop to this.”

Erasmus also highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of the player contracting systems in France, England and Ireland. The former Munster boss said that in Ireland especially, clubs are loath to pay a player who they know won’t make it as a professional, or who won’t attract fans or viewership.

“I think we [SA] think that professional players are players who fill a team. My understanding is that it’s irresponsible to just pay a player who people don’t want to see play … other than his girlfriend, and mother and father,” Erasmus added.

“He isn’t good enough to attract spectators or play in a professional competition. So why are we paying this player?

“Why are there so many players? Is it because we aren’t doing our homework before we sign them? Here, I include myself. I’m not pointing a finger. I’m actually pointing four fingers back at myself.”

Erasmus believes that SA unions need to value quality over quantity, as the country doesn’t have enough really good players to justify being frivolous.

“I’m pleading with you to think about this because I want us to win the Rugby Championship. We need to stop with this commercial farming mentality that we must have 80 good players on the field, but only think that two or three can do the job,” the 2019 World Cup-winning coach said.

“I’m also not saying we must just have 50 players. You can have 60 players, but let’s please not be paying players who don’t deserve to be professional players.”

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Devin Hermanus