Saffers in the ZP - is it a good idea?

So, the Cats are also going to play in London next year, joining the Sharks, who have been playing annually at The Stoop - against NEC Harlequins - for some time now, and the Stormers, who have also made the trip to the United Kingdom in the past (only this year they opted for Dubai instead of the UK to tune up for the Super 12).

But what is so amazing about the Cats playing in London? Well, they claim that it will be an annual event now; Saracens - the Cats' opponents - will host the Cats in London at the start of every year, whilst Sarries will then travel to Johannesburg later in the year - round about August - to take on the Lions, the Cats' little brothers.

All fine and dandy.

South Africans in London, those biltong and Super 12-starved junkies will get a brief taste of their favourite rugby heroes in late January and then that's it. The SA sides will head back home and take a few beatings in Australasia later on in the competition. Finished en klaar (or done and dusted to translate from Afrikaans).

Yes? No?

Well, what if some of SA's top players plied their trades in England on a more permanent basis, but - and get this - not for Saracens, not for Harlequins, not for any club that half of you Bok supporters have never even heard about, but for YOU.

Rumours have been doing their rounds for some time now that certain people are trying to put together a South African Zurich Premiership side - a bunch of SA players sick and tired with all the goings on in their home country, but still determined to make a success of rugby.

According to an impeccable source of mine, this band of 'rugby mercenaries' will have its own identity, its own home ground and it will include some top names from South African rugby, hell-bent on showing how the game should be played and how it could be played by South Africans - who have no external pressures, just the four white lines and the 15 players on the pitch at a time.

They will even be able to challenge for trophies in the English Premiership in a few years' time.

So, how about it then? Breyton Paulse speeding down the touchline at the Kingsholm, with some ex-Stormers team-mates on his inside, has a better ring to it than Ben Cohen making ground on exactly the same field.

How many of you 500,00-odd South Africans in the greater London are would make the effort to watch a bunch of your favourite stars from home performing in England every weekend? And then what about sinking some cold ones with Big Joe and the boys at the Walkabout afterwards? And then, I'm not forgetting the New Zealanders and Australians either - how about a group effort? Some Saffers, some Kiwis and a couple of Aussies playing together - not fighting each other for once - and creating their own brand away from home.

Should they even waste their time?