Erasmus will not play by these rules

Just so every now and then, we rugby scribes get caught on the wrong foot when a national coach in a prime sporting code throws the rulebook at us.

That was the case this week when Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus mentioned “regulation 9” ahead of their Rugby Championship opener at King’s Park in Durban.

Now apparently this regulation means that players contracted at overseas clubs should be made available when their countries call on them during the international window and these clubs are bound by the IRB to release the players during this time.

But where the issue came to the fore was when Bok scrumhalf Faf de Klerk (Sale Sharks), fullback Willie le Roux (Wasps) and flank Francois Louw were said to only be available for three or four of the Championship matches.

That would mean they could be available for the two matches against Argentina – home and away – and the away matches against Australia and New Zealand but not for the final two home games against the Wallabies in Port Elizabeth and against the All Blacks at Loftus Versfeld.

Now if Erasmus wanted to pull rank he could have forced the clubs to make them available for the entire six Tests, but that is not his nature.

“He wants rather to establish an arrangement of good relations with these clubs which will also allow him to expand the depth and experience of local talent.

“There is not an official arrangement in place with Flo (Louw) but we also want to be reasonable and keep the guys positive,” said Erasmus.

Erasmus believes however somebody like Louw is so keen since last year when he got injured, in the first four matches they will use him as much as they can.

“And then let Cyle Brink and Marco van Staden learn a lot from him like Aphiwe Dyantyi and Sbu Nkosi learned from Willie le Roux at the back and like Ivan van Zyl and the guys learned from Faf de Klerk.

“So Flo is very keen to play that role and I also spoke to the other players, they must soak up everything he can give to them and he is very willing to do that and we have a plan and everybody bought into that,” he explained.

Now one can only hope this arrangement bears the necessary fruit.

Because the All Blacks are waiting.