Erasmus: Too many foreign players will be bad for Ireland
South Africa’s director of rugby Rassie Erasmus has warned Ireland against the potential detrimental effects of importing too many overseas players.
In an exclusive interview with the Irish Independent, which will be published in full tomorrow, Erasmus admitted that Ireland must promote their own home-grown talent.
However, having spent two seasons with Munster, Erasmus believes the IRFU have a good handle on the issue, which has cropped up again after Munster announced the signing of a third South African lock for next season.
Erasmus insisted that while Jason Jenkins’ move to Limerick is a positive for his Springboks setup and for Munster, the World Cup-winning coach feels it is a situation that must be carefully managed.
“Look, for South Africa, it’s great because he is in a great high-performance programme, they are paying his salary and he can play for us,” Erasmus told the Irish Independent.
“It’s about balance and I think David Nucifora (IRFU performance director) is very much on top of it. There’s eight locks, so let’s say four are foreign, now Andy (Farrell) might only have four to pick from.
“Of course Ireland don’t have a lot of rugby players. If there are 160 or 180 professionals and that foreign based number becomes big, I don’t think it’s bad for the club, but I think it might be for the national cause – it might not be great.”
Rassie Erasmus joins online business leadership event Leaders Lounge. See www.leadersloungelive.com
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