Jake White is worried about the impact the Springboks\u2019 match with Wales could have on the sport with both sides missing so many players.<\/p>\n
The game takes place outside the international window which means that neither country has access to their foreign-based members of the squad.<\/p>\n
A number of the Welsh<\/a> squad play in the English PREM while Adam Beard is currently at French side Montpellier.<\/p>\n It is a similar situation for the Boks<\/a>, who have players scattered around the world, although they do have access to some of their Japan-based individuals.<\/p>\n Understrength sides<\/p>\n Two understrength teams are therefore set to clash in, as White<\/a> describes, what is meant to be the \u201cpinnacle\u201d of the sport.<\/p>\n However, unlike Wales, South Africa have the strength in depth and the 2007 Rugby World Cup winner worries if the hosts will be able to cope.<\/p>\n If not then it could well be a bad look for the sport and for World Rugby, who will see their product undermined.<\/p>\n \u201cI see Rassie<\/a> [Erasmus] is only picking from 24 or 25 players. I remember before he got the job, that was the norm and coaches were expected to make do on smaller squads,\u201d White wrote in his RugbyPass<\/a> column.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel sorry for Wales, with 13 players going back to England and France but where does that leave us? I\u2019ll say this, Test rugby is very important.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is the pinnacle of our game. Call me a traditionalist, but a Test where your best players aren\u2019t available, or it\u2019s played outside the designated window is not the way it should be done.<\/p>\n \u201cSure, it\u2019s economically driven and needs must, but we must be careful we are not watering down Test matches. If Wales get drilled on Saturday and that goes down in the history books, it\u2019s not a great look. These are two proud rugby nations, who, remember, duked it out in the 2019 World Cup semi-final.<\/p>\n \u201cThe window is there for a reason. I know they\u2019ve said the fixture was planned with the old regime, but proper planning needs to be in place. Now I\u2019m not for one second saying \u2018overseas\u2019 players should be picked \u2013 I\u2019m not changing my view on that, but if you play outside the window, you have to deal with the consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n