Where to for the Boks?

South Africa remains the last major rugby playing country to restart their domestic season with New Zealand, Australia, England and the Pro14 all having already played a competition or in the final phases of the season.

This pandemic-enforced delay has left South Africa in a precarious position with the possibility of them being left out in the dark completely from supposed allies SANZAAR and their new friends in Europe.

It's been reported this week that South Africa were on the verge of replacing Japan in the European Eight Nations competition, however Tuesday's reports now suggest that Georgia will join the six European teams and Fiji for the end of year competition.

With South African Rugby still unsure as to when their competition will start and with at least three weeks until a start of the domestic season, time is running out for a Springbok team to get any game-time in 2020.

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber also mentioned that he needed the players to play at least six rounds of domestic rugby before he would feel confident selecting a squad for any international rugby.

Should the Boks be able to play at the end of the year, former Springbok and Cell C Sharks star Stefan Terblanche believes it's going to be a very tough ask for them to perform at their best.

"We are a good enough side, we are the world champions," Terblanche said. "But just not having played is going to make it really hard.

"You can go to the gym and run up and down stairs and train as hard has you want but you need that match fitness.

"Any time that we can buy now by playing rugby locally before going to play international rugby will be a benefit for everyone."

With the current situation not actually giving anyone outside of SA Rugby any clearer idea of what will be happening in the immediate future, Terblanche believes that although we might not play New Zealand every year it makes sense to head to Europe.

"I am a traditionalist and love playing New Zealand and New Zealand teams," he stressed. "You always want to test yourself against the best and they have proven for many years that they are the best domestically and internationally.

"With that said European travel is far easier, the money will be better and the quality of rugby will be good.

"If we just look at Super Rugby, it's not the same competition as it used to be and these days there is just too much rugby."

In the long-term it seems that Europe does offer a very tantalising alternative given the time difference and ease of travel, however the financial carrot cannot be ignored and that will probably be the final straw in taking us north permanently.