Rassie Erasmus warns Ireland over foreign imports

Colin Newboult

South Africa Head Coach Rassie Erasmus ahead of the 2019 Rugby World Cup final match at Yokohama Stadium.

South Africa director of rugby Rassie Erasmus believes that too many overseas signings will be detrimental for the Ireland national team.

Munster announced that former South African age-grade star Jason Jenkins would be joining the province on a one-year deal following the departure of Billy Holland and CJ Stander.

Stander has arguably been Ireland’s most successful ‘project player’, qualifying for the country through residency and earning 51 caps before announcing his retirement.

The addition of Jenkins appears to be a short-term fix, however, and Erasmus, who coached the Limerick-based outfit for just over a year, understands why there are concerns within Ireland over the signing of foreign players.

Great for South African rugby

“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,” he 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.”

Munster great Donncha O’Callaghan was particularly disappointed over the signing of Jenkins, with the 94-times capped Ireland lock insisting that there is plenty of academy talent to take their places.

“When you have lost people like Billy Holland and CJ Stander and there is a gap in the squad, for me, as a Munster man, I would always prefer to plough these blocks with homegrown talent, the likes of Thomas Aherne, Paddy Kelly, Cian Hurley, they are quality players that are coming in,” O’Callaghan told RTE 2fm’s Game On.

“I would honestly prefer if we had one of our own guys plugging the gap, but that’s on the coaching ticket.

“If they feel like they need extra players from outside, I can understand it with CJ and Billy going, there is merit in it from that side, but players signing for one-year deals?

“I would rather one of our younger fellas given the chance to fill that space. It’s tough to take as a supporter.”