SA Rugby will use the South Africa A clash against Zimbabwe to “capture” some of the country’s brightest young players.
Twenty-one uncapped players were invited to the Springbok training camp in Johannesburg this week, including Junior Boks captain Riley Norton, props Danie Kruger and Oliver Reid, hookers Liam van Wyk and Siphosethu Mnebelele, flyhalves Vusi Moyo and Yaqeen Ahmed, centre Markus Muller, and utility backs Luan Giliomee and Zekhethelo Siyaya.
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Mzwandile Stick will coach the SA A side in Gqeberha next Saturday as part of a double-header that also features the Springboks against the Barbarians.
SA Rugby is set to announce the teams on Tuesday, with the SA A selection to carry significant eligibility implications.
Under World Rugby Regulation 8, each country may nominate a second senior representative team in addition to its Test side. Playing for either the national side or the second representative side will tie the player to that country.
With World Rugby longer permitting U20 teams from being the designated second team, SA Rugby has designated SA A as the second South African team.
Therefore any player who represents SA A against Zimbabwe will become tied to South Africa for international purposes and be regarded as “captured”.
The only way to then appear for another country would be via World Rugby’s birthright regulations and completion of the required three-year stand-down period.
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Speaking this week, Erasmus said: “We hope to get some guys comfortable in the set-up. The second thing is to get them into our game plan and the way we want to do things.
“Then it’s about getting injured players and guys who haven’t played a lot recently some game time.
“The SA A team also captures quite a lot of players because it is our second-ranked team and we are playing against a nation that is going to the World Cup.”
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The move comes amid growing concern over the loss of South African talent to international rivals.
Several South African schoolboys have already been recruited into northern hemisphere pathways over the past year.
Former Rondebosch Boys’ and SA U18 loose forward Josh Neill has played for Ireland U20 this year, while Scottish Rugby recently signed Kingswood College twins Josh and James Mackenzie – who qualify for Scotland through their paternal grandparents – to the Glasgow Warriors Academy.
Photo: Richard Huggard/Gallo Images
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SA Rugby will use the South Africa A clash against Zimbabwe to “capture” some of the country’s brightest young players.
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