All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson and former Springboks boss Jake White.
Springboks Rugby World Cup winner Jake White believes that it would be a mistake for New Zealand Rugby (NZR) to change their overseas policy.
Currently, only those that ply their trade in the country are able to play for the All Blacks, but Scott Robertson wants that to be altered.
Robertson has confirmed that he will go to the NZR bigwigs in an attempt to convince them to allow some foreign-based players to be able to feature for the national team.
However, White has warned the governing body about making any concessions to the head coach.
Won’t ‘solve their desperation’
“I’m on record as saying I’m an admirer of New Zealand rugby and the values they stand for and I stand by it,” he wrote in his RugbyPass column.
“The moment they damage that mystique, and lose that aura they’ve built over generations, they will go backwards at a rate of knots.
“My point is, if you change the overseas rule for one player – Richie Mo’unga in this instance – you set a dangerous precedent.
“You can understand the soul-searching. Scott Robertson’s men would have been frustrated to have gone down to France by a point and how they really failed to put an obdurate Italy away after they put 96 points on them just over a year ago.
“I can understand them looking around and saying, ‘maybe we just bring the overseas guys in’, but I don’t think that’s the silver bullet to solve their desperation to retain the crown as the world’s best team.”
Former All Black Stephen Donald, whose penalty won the 2011 World Cup, spoke out against the idea earlier this week and White agreed with the ex-fly-half.
“I mention this because Stephen Donald’s quotes about eligibility resonated with me. In summation, he said: ‘Call me old school, call me whatever but there’s got to be an element of sacrifice’,” he wrote.
“I really think we need to consider that word ‘sacrifice’. Thirty years into professionalism, representing the All Blacks jersey is still the ultimate honour, which don’t forget as an institution is 133 years-old.”
Comparison to the Springboks
South Africa have claimed the past two World Cup titles and it came after they removed any restrictions on selecting overseas players.
Robertson cited the Springboks when discussing the All Blacks’ policy, but White does not believe that New Zealand should follow that example.
“Listen, rugby moves in cycles. I know other countries have looked at the Springboks depth chart with covetous glances, but I can tell you, it wasn’t always like that,” he added.
“We always used to look down there [New Zealand] and say, ‘Jeez, how have they produced yet another superstar wing who seems to have come from nowhere?’ They’ve had the luxury of picking from four countries for decades; New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.
“I remember coaching South Africa and we played the Pacific Islanders in a Test match in 2004, and then later in the year, we played the All Blacks with the same Tongan No 8, Sione Lauaki.
“Remember at that stage there was no eligibility criteria like we have today. Once you’d played a Test, that was it. You were locked down to that country. That’s how envious we were of what they had.”
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