South African rugby has been in decline since the glory year of 2009, having not won any Super Rugby, Tri Nations/Rugby Championship or World Cups during that time.

Since 2009, the Springboks have only beaten the All Blacks twice – in Port Elizabeth in 2011 and at Ellis Park in 2014 – and have been subjected to humiliating defeats by Ireland, Wales, Argentina and Japan since.

This leads to the inevitable conclusion that South Africa is losing its once proud standing as one of the most respectable rugby nations in the world.

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So far during this week various Australian Roarers have taken the liberty of highlighting the shortcomings of Australian rugby. This has been brought by the incompetence of the Wallabies’ efforts against England in June, losing 3 – 0 at home, and further adding insult to injury was the dire efforts of the Australian Conference in last week’s round of Super Rugby.

Combining these two gives you the notion that Australian rugby is stuck, or going backwards.

While I do have certain ideas as to why the men of the gold country are struggling the way they currently are, the truth is that my knowledge and information of Australian rugby is poor at best, so I will instead follow the discussions of Australian supporters to paint my own picture.

Because of that, I am going to talk about something I do know: South Africa.

Make no mistake; we South Africans have no right to proclaim ourselves to be in a better position than Australia at any level, let alone Super Rugby.

As it stands, the Lions are our only chance of winning that elusive Super Rugby title, but even their hopes are slim at best. While the Lions have shown themselves to be vastly superior to other South African sides, they are far from being on par with the best that New Zealand have to offer.



Yes, they had beaten the Chiefs early in the competition and yes, they had made short work of the Blues during the latter stages, but they were properly beaten by the Crusaders, Hurricanes and Highlanders – two of which were played at home.

Now Lions coach Johan Ackermann has opted to rest his entire first choice team when they face the underperforming Jaguares in Argentina. The overlying thought to this is that he wants his team to be fresh come the quarter-finals, but his methods come close to madness.

Jake White had made a very similar decision in 2014 when he was coach of the Sharks when he opted to rest a number of key players for matches against lower sides like the Cheetahs. This didn’t turn out exactly how he had intended and the Sharks lost against the Cheetahs at home and surrendered any chance they might have had of ending the round stages top of the log. They went on to lose against the Crusaders in the semi-final.

Current Springbok coach, Allister Coetzee, made a similar choice in 2015 when he opted to rest his entire first choice team against the Sharks in the last round. A victory would have given him the second spot on the overall log and would have saved South Africa from the complaints that the Crusaders should have advanced in their place, as they would legitimately have had more points than the Canterbury boys.

Now Ackermann is willing to sacrifice home ground advantage should they reach the final. If history has proven anything, it is that it is nigh on impossible to beat a New Zealand team, in New Zealand, in a playoff.

Much has been said about transformation and the current format of Super Rugby, and while both of these do contribute in certain ways, the true enemy lies north of the equator. South African players have been leaving the country in droves in the past few years and this, logically, dilutes the depth of the country.

The fight against European clubs is a fight that South Africa is losing, and they are feeling the consequences of this now.

It is no stretch by any means to suggest that had South Africa retained all their players, they would have easily been able to field six competitive teams. This is not to say that we would have dominated Super Rugby given New Zealand’s seemingly endless pool of quality talent themselves, but it does suggest that they would not have found their hold on Super Rugby so easily.



For instance, if South Africa could have retained all the talent that they had lost to European and Japanese clubs, the Kings could theoretically have fielded this team:

1. Steven Kitshoff, 2. Bismarck du Plessis, 3. Jannie du Plessis, 4. Paul Willemse, 5. Jacques du Plessis, 6. Heinrich Brussow, 7. CJ Stander, 8. Pierre Spies, 9. Rory Kockott, 10. Johan Goosen, 11. Bryan Habana, 12. Francois Steyn, 13. JJ Engelbrecht, 14. Gio Aplon, 15. Scott Spedding.

This team contains no less than thirteen test players and two Junior Springboks, but the positives would not have ended there. Here are theoretical teams of current players combined with those that the South African Super Rugby teams have lost. The players that had once played many years for certain teams have been reinstated into their old teams while others were given over to the Kings.

Each team will have two sets of starting XV teams to illustrate the depth they would have had.

Bulls:

1. Trevor Nyakane, 2. Adriaan Strauss, 3. Marcell van der Merwe, 4. Paul Willemse, 5. Jacques du Plessis, 6. CJ Stander, 7. Arno Botha, 8. Pierre Spies, 9. Rudy Paige, 10. Handre Pollard, 11. Jamba Ulengo, 12. Jan Serfontein, 13. JJ Engelbrecht, 14. Bryan Habana, 15. Jesse Kriel.

1. Paul Schoeman, 2. Bandise Maku, 3. Werner Kruger, 4. RG Snyman, 5. Jason Jenkins, 6. Deon Steggman, 7. Lappies Labuschagne, 8. Hanro Liebenberg, 9. Piet van Zyl, 10. Morne Steyn, 11. Travis Ismaiel, 12. Burger Odendaal, 13. Daniel Kriel, 14. Luther Obi, 15. Zane Kirchner.

Notable omissions: Dean Greyling (Prop), Lizo Gqoboka (Prop), Callie Visagie (Hooker), Grant Hattingh (Lock), Nico Janse van Rensburg (Lock), Renaldo Bothma (Loosie), Nick de Jager (Loosie), Tian Schoeman (Fly-half), Francois Brummer (Fly-half), Dries Swanepoel (Centre), Wynand Olivier (Centre), SP Marais (Fullback), Warrick Gelant (Fullback)

As you can see, the Bulls would be healthy beyond belief in the forwards while having Morne Steyn, Francois Brummer and Tian Schoeman to provide backup for Pollard at fly-half would be depth incarnate. In the centres they could pick between Serfontein, Engelbrecht, Kriel, Swanepoel and Odendaal.



The total of test players between these comes to 12 in the starting team with a further eight in the rest.

Sharks:

1. Tendai Mtawarira, 2. Bismarck du Plessis, 3. Jannie du Plessis, 4. Jacques Potgieter, 5. Stephan Lewies, 6. Marcell Coetzee, 7. Willem Alberts, 8. Ryan Kankowski, 9. Cobus Reinach, 10. Patrick Lambie, 11. Lwazi Mvovo, 12. Francois Steyn, 13. Paul Jordaan, 14. JP Pietersen, 15. Willie le Roux.

1. Coenie Oosthuizen, 2. Craig Burden, 3. Louwrens Adriaanse, 4. Ruan Botha, 5. Ettienne Oosthuisen, 6. Jean-Luc du Preez, 7. Phillip van der Walt, 8. Daniel du Preez, 9. Ruan Pienaar, 10. Garth April, 11. Odwa Ndungane, 12. Andre Esterhuizen, 13. Sbura Sithole, 14. Wandile Mjekevu, 15. Louis Ludik

Notable Omissions: Dale Chadwick (Prop), Thomas du Toit, (Prop), Kyle Cooper (Hooker), Chiliboy Ralepelle (Hooker), Franco Marais (Hooker), Giant Mtyanda (Lock), Keegan Daniel (Loosie), Jean Deysel (Loosie), Michael Claasens (Scrum-half), Curwin Bosch (Fullback), Rhyno Smith (Fullback)

Again the forward pack is well taken care of. Mtawarira and the du Plessis brothers are test players as is Oosthuisen and Ralepelle. Their loose-forward stock would be more than prodigious with Coetzee, Alberts, Kankowski, Deysel, Bothma (all test players) along with the du Preez twins. Cobus Reinach and Ruan Pienaar are both Springboks and their centres with Steyn, Esterhuizen, Jordaan and Sithole could put up any competitive combinations

The total Test players come up at a full house of fifteen Test players in the starting line-up with a further five in the rest.

Cheetahs:

1. Maks van Dyk, 2. Ashley Johnson, 3. Ox Nche, 4. Lood de Jager, 5. Francois Uys, 6. Heinrich Brussow, 7. Oupa Mahoje, 8. Willie Britz, 9. Sarel Pretorius, 10. Johan Goosen, 11. Sergeal Pietersen, 12. Francois Venter, 13. Robert Ebersohn, 14. Raymond Rhule, 15. Clayton Blommetjies

1. Danie Mienie, 2. Richardt Strauss, 3. Charles Marais, 4. Carl Wegner, 5. Boela Serfontein, 6. Uzair Cassiem, 7. Tienie Burger, 8. Boom Prinsloo, 9. Shaun Venter, 10. Fred Zeilinga, 11. Cornall Hendricks, 12. William Small-Smith, 13. Rayno Benjamin, 14. Maphuta Dolo, 15. Coenie van Wyk



Notable Omissions: BG Uys (Prop), Luan de Bruyn (Prop), Torsten van Jaarsveld (Hooker), Reniel Hugo (Lock), Henco Venter (Loosie), Paul Schoeman (Loosie), Tian Meyer (Scrum-half), Neil Marais (Fly-Half), Sias Ebersohn (Fly-Half), Michael van der Spuy (Centre).

The Cheetahs would receive a considerable boost at hooker with Ashley Johnson and Ireland international Richardt Strauss joining Namibia international Torsten van Jaarsveld. Heinrich Brussow, Sarel Pretorius, Johan Goosen and Robert Ebersohn all returning would give them the backbone of that 2013 Cheetahs team that defied the odds.

The total of Test players comes up at five in the starting line-up and a further three in the rest.

Stormers:

1. Steven Kitshoff, 2. Deon Fourie, 3. Frans Malherbe, 4. Eben Etzebeth, 5. Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6. Francois Louw, 7. Siya Kolisi, 8. Duane Vermeulen, 9. Jano Vermaak, 10. Jean-Luc du Plessis, 11. Gio Aplon, 12. Damian de Allende, 13. Juan de Jongh, 14. Gerhard van den Heever, 15. Cheslin Kolbe

1. Oli Kebble, 2. Scarra Ntubeni, 3. Vincent Koch, 4. Jean Kleyn, 5. Andries Bekker, 6. Rynhardt Elstadt, 7. Sikumbhuzo Notshe, 8. Nick Koster, 9. Nic Groom, 10. Robert du Preez, 11. Leolin Zas, 12. Danie Poolman, 13. Jaque Fourie, 14. Kobus van Wyk, 15.Jaco Taute.

Notable Omissions: Brok Harris (Prop), Bongi Mbonambi (Hooker), JD Shickerling (Lock), Nizaam Carr (Loosie), Nic Groom (Scrum-Half), Brandon Thompson (Fly-Half), Kurt Coleman (Fly-Half), Peter Grant (Fly-Half), Huw Jones (Centre), Pat Howard (Centre), Joe Pietersen (Fullback)

There are eleven Test players in the starting line-up while there are a further seven Test players make up the rest.

Lions:

1. Corne Fourie, 2. Malcolm Marx, 3. Julian Redelinghuys, 4. Andries Ferreira, 5. Franco Mostert, 6. Warrick Tecklenburg, 7. Jaco Kriel, 8. Warren Whiteley, 9. Faf de Klerk, 10. Elton Jantjies, 11. Courtnall Skosan, 12. Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 13. Lionel Mapoe, 14. Ruan Combrinck, 15. Andries Coetzee



1. Dylan Smith, 2. Akker van der Merwe, 3. Jacques van Rooyen, 4. MB Lusaseni, 5. Lourens Erasmus, 6. Derrick Minnie, 7. Ruaan Lerm, 8. Ruan Ackermann, 9. Ross Cronje, 10. Marnitz Boshoff, 11. Anthony Volminck, 12. Harold Vorster, 13. Howard Mnisi, 14. Sampie Mastriet, 15. Jaco van der Walt

Notable Omissions: Ruan Dreyer (Prop), Robbie Coetzee (Hooker), Martin Muller (Lock), Michael Bondesio (Scrum-Half), Stokkies Hanekon (Centre), JW Bell.

Not much change for the Lions only because they have not lost many players because two years ago, no one noticed them. The Lions have a stack of talent, intelligently moulded to greatness by their coach.

There are eight Test players in the starting line-up and a further naught everywhere else, but that should change soon.

The Kings:

1. Jacobie Adriaanse, 2. Schalk Brits, 3. Petrus du Plessis, 4. Steven Sykes, 5. Allistair Hargreaves, 6. Bernard le Roux, 7. Michael Rhodes, 8. Josh Strauss, 9. Rory Kockott, 10. Elgar Watts, 11. Siyanda Grey, 12. Brad Barritt, 13. Jeremy Ward, 14. Malcolm Jaer, 15. Scott Spedding

1. Sti Sithole, 2. Edgar Marutlulle, 3. Schalk Ferreira, 4. JC Astle, 5. Schalk Oelofse, 6. Chris Cloete, 7. Thembolani Bholi, 8. Jacques Engelbrecht, 9. James Hall, 10. Elgar Watts, 11. Luzunko Vulindlu, 12. Stefan Watermeyer, 13. JP du Plessis, 14. Charles Radebe, 15. Jurgen Visser.

The Kings would be bolstered by several excellent players from Saracens and a few on the side playing for France. Schalk Brits, Petrus du Plessis, Allistair Hargreaves, Michael Rhodes and Brad Barritt would bring in the Saracens reinforcements and Bernard le Roux, Rory Kockott and Scott Spedding are all France internationals.

Obviously there are hundreds more that could have been included in the South African Super Rugby franchises, but this isn’t intended to be an argument over who could be best and where. Instead, what this highlights is that South Africa have the depth in talent to field strong Super Rugby teams, but the inability to hold these players in South Africa will continue to hurt us.



There are already twenty eight South African players confirmed to head to Europe by the end of the year. 28! By this rate, South Africa would do well to be able to compete with one team in the next few years.