South African Youth Player Drain

[mdaclarke]

Apparently the Boks Under 20 team will now pick players based overseas.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

I had a question relating to the French locks: when did the move to France, and is it considered a loss to South Africa? Ok that was two questions. South Africa breeds locks for breakfast so maybe no biggy?

You can't make a full 15 and there weren't any backs that I saw, this is what I came up with by skimming through the squads.
1 Allan Dell SCO
2
3 WP Nel SCO
4 Bernard Le Roux FRA
5 Paul Willemse FRA
6 Johan Meyer ITA
7 Braam Steyn ITA
8 CJ Stander IRE
9 Heinz
10 anscombe
11 Maitland
12 parkes
13 aki
14 McNicol
15 Hayward
16
17
18
19 Cornell Du Preez SCO
20
21
22
23

Added nz players above, off the top of my head. Just missing one for a 15. Yeah, I see now this is off topic but shhh

 

[saulan]

I had a question relating to the French locks: when did the move to France, and is it considered a loss to South Africa? Ok that was two questions. South Africa breeds locks for breakfast so maybe no biggy?

Paul Willemse won the U20 World Championship in 2012 with South Africa, I consider him as a bit of a loss as I thought he looked good for the future. He played in the local university tournament, Currie Cup and Super Rugby before making his move. He left in 2014 aged ~22 and has been there since.

Bernard Le Roux moved in 2009 aged ~20 and never really played much premier senior rugby in the country. I wouldn't really say he is a loss to SA rugby though, more because he never really showed his potential or impact in a South African team and has spent basically all of his professional career in France (~11 years).

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

You can't make a full 15 and there weren't any backs that I saw, this is what I came up with by skimming through the squads.
1 Allan Dell SCO
2
3 WP Nel SCO
4 Bernard Le Roux FRA
5 Paul Willemse FRA
6 Johan Meyer ITA
7 Braam Steyn ITA
8 CJ Stander IRE
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19 Cornell Du Preez SCO
20
21
22
23

Rob Herring is from Cape Town. Didn't qualify through residency though, must have a granny.