A couple of issues, specifically from a South African point of view. Firstly, if locally based players are not given some sort of preference when the Springbok side is being selected, then why should they remain loyal to the local franchises? In the professional era loyalty to a union is already a scarce commodity as it is. We are already seeing players moving from one local union to the next at the drop of a hat. It is a very small step with a massive financial incentive to move abroad. About the only thing keeping players in the republic is the prospect of being selected as a Springbok. Secondly, there is no doubt that if the preference for locally based players was removed, we'd see a mass exodus of players to the land of milk, honey and strong currencies! The Currie cup has massively reduced interest recently, due to the sheer volume of quality rugby out there. If this exodus of players were to take place, as it certainly would, what would become of the Currie Cup? It would become a farce! We have already seen that current Springboks are not playing at all in the Currie Cup. With no Springboks and a massive drain in players, the Currie Cup would become nothing more than a sub par competition. Lastly, and worst of all! We are already starting to see young players leaving SA for clubs in Europe and Japan. They are doing this knowing full well that it will probably mean they'll never get to wear the Bok jersey. They leave to chase the big bucks anyway.
It is my opinion that if players are able to be selected for the Springboks regardless of where they play, firstly the Currie Cup will suffer, because it is already a watered down version of what it used to be. Followed by Super Rugby due to the lack of a talented pool of players to choose from. Ultimately the Springboks would pay the price!


