OPINION: Fireworks exploded into the night sky above the shiny new Cape Town stadium, the South African sports minister clapped his hands like a young girl who has just seen the new pony in the garden and 52,000 people danced like it was 1995. Sevens is the new rugby in South Africa and its emergence should worry every true rugby fan in New Zealand.

Across town, the old ground of Newlands stands as a decaying monument to rugby past. Fifteen-a-side rugby in South Africa isn't quite on life support, but it is in the emergency room and its frailty threatens our future. This country needs South African rugby to be strong.

The All Blacks versus South Africa is Germany v Holland at football or England v Australia at cricket. South Africa are the grit in our eye and the oil in our car. We can't suffer and we can't function without them. So although it goes against every instinct in our body we need to reach out to South Africa, we need to help them get through this pain.

The first thing that New Zealand rugby should do is form an alliance with South Africa and refuse to play any more test matches against France until their national federation sorts out its clubs. And that includes the next World Cup. Boycott the damn thing if we have to, but the French clubs cannot be allowed to continue their assault on the international game.

READ MORE: SARU takes steps to halt player drain

As I have noted before the All Blacks have probably marginally benefited in recent years by the exodus of the old players to France because it has allowed the next wave to develop. But the game in South Africa has been wrecked. The French clubs are like a virulent disease that is rampaging through the country and wiping out a generation of fine rugby players.

Winning the 2007 World Cup in France should have been a tremendous boost to South African rugby. Instead it has been a curse. The owners of the French clubs, a legion of dishonour, watched the players on TV and set out to poach them all.

There are currently 14 South Africans playing rugby at Montpellier alone. Three of them are called du Plessis. Incidentally the Brumbies have also lost three key players, lured by coach Jake White. There are Fijians, New Zealanders, Samoans and Georgians thrown into the mix. But South Africa suffers more than anyone.

Gio Aplon is at Grenoble. Willem Alberts is at Stade. Bryan Habana, Juan Smith and Duane Vermeulen are at Toulon. There are three Van der Merwes scattered about. As a result of all this poaching, the big game is dying on the veldt. The South African provinces are no longer competitive and the fans are heading for the exits.

Even the players are on strike. The ludicrous idea to add a sixth South African team to Super rugby, when the existing five can't even function, is already in turmoil. The Kings, aka Eastern Province, couldn't find a big enough sponsor and so didn't pay its players for two months. Under siege, the new franchise called in armed guards and padlocked its doors.

The Kings' brilliant solution to the crisis was to shuts their doors and open new offices 100m down the road. The South African Rugby Union, who are ultimately responsible for another fine mess, have stepped in and formed a new holding company. A new chief operating officer has been appointed and an initial (firing) squad selected.

One player has taken to social media to threaten legal action. Back from France with his fiancée to play for the Kings, Michael van Vuuren wrote on Facebook, "Despite a petition and a plea from the players, it is now clear to me that the executive cannot resolve the issues. The non-payment of monies due to me for October and November have left me financially embarrassed.

"I am no longer in a position to rely upon my friends and my family. The broken promises and continued financial issues as well as the constant reference to liquidation has rendered my position untenable. Unfortunately the executive is in material breach of my contract and in the circumstances I have no choice but to cancel my contract and exercise my legal remedies."

Everywhere turmoil. A few days earlier, Heyneke Meyer resigned his position as Springboks coach, saying, "My integrity has always been very important." The politicians are implementing a "transformation policy" for the 2019 World Cup saying that 50 per cent of the squad must be non-white and that 60 per cent of those non-whites must be black African.

What the hell is going on in South African sport, from the blade runner to the president of SARFU? The players are heading overseas. The top coaches are all resigning. The fans are walking out. Slowly the flame on all those barbecues that used to warm the early evening air around the stadia is dying.

Last year not one of the five South African teams would have made the top six of Super Rugby on points. South Africa has had one finalist in the previous five years and they were smashed by more than 30 points. Crowd numbers have virtually halved. Faced with a choice between the Blitzbokke and the Shitbokke, no wonder the fans are turning towards sevens.

So if you see a South African rugby fan, tired and hungry, lying in the ashes of his braai, help him to his feet. If you are a New Zealander in Cape Town in February, go to the season opener at Newlands between the Stormers and the Bulls. Be charitable. Make it Back-a-Bok day. South African rugby needs our help.