I am of the opinion that if a player decides to make a move to play rugby in a foreign country he should not be considered to play for the Springboks until such time as he is back playing local rugby again.
We have plenty of very capable players who are more than willing to step up and fill any voids left by the departing player.
It is these players who play here in South Africa, that should be considered for the Springbok team. What incentive is there for them if they know that a player who left South Africa stands a good chance of just walking back into the Springbok team.
In the last while we have had a couple of Springboks who, in my thinking, are in the twilight of their careers and might even be dropped from the team if they stayed here, who go overseas for that nice bonus before retiring, yet expect to keep a door open to play for the Springboks once again.
So as Marie Antoinette is supposedly to have said – “let them eat cake”. But do it in France in a foreign jersey!