Johannesburg — A FARCICAL anomaly in SA Rugby's player contract system came to light yesterday when it was revealed that some of the most valuable Springbok players cannot be withdrawn from the Currie Cup, while many of those long since discarded by coach Jake White are protected by contracts and have been removed.

Players such as flyhalves Andre Pretorius and Butch James -- likely to be key players in next year's World Cup -- are not contracted to SA Rugby, so it cannot protect them by withdrawing them from the Currie Cup, unless a special arrangement is reached with the unions.

At the same time, players such as centres Wayne Julies and De Wet Barry and hooker Hanyani Shimange -- no longer part of the national setup -- are protected by their contracts and have been pulled out of the final stages.

This situation is the result of an agreement between SA Rugby and the five major provincial unions in May in an attempt to reduce the load on the national players in the buildup to next year's World Cup.

Ironically, players such as lock Albert van den Berg, centre Jean de Villiers and No8 Joe van Niekerk, who have not played much this season either because of injury or being omitted from White's match-22, could benefit from game time in the remaining Currie Cup games. But they have been withdrawn from the final stages of the Currie Cup.

In another development, SA Rugby requested that Barry, Julies and Shimange -- contracted players -- be allowed to play in the Currie Cup. But the CEOs of the unions rejected this, saying it would be unfair for some contracted players to play and not others, when all five unions were vying for semifinal places.

SA Rugby's national teams manager Andy Marinos disagreed. "The Sharks will have noncontracted players Ruan Pienaar, BJ Botha, Johann Muller and AJ Venter back from national duty," he said yesterday.

"Andre Pretorius and Lawrence Sephaka, also not contracted, have returned to the Lions, while the other noncontracted Boks, Wynand Olivier, Akona Ndungane, Pierre Spies and Pedrie Wannenburg, are all back at the Blue Bulls.

"So I cannot see what the provinces are protesting about. I fail to see how the request to allow those three contracted players to play would give their teams an unfair advantage."

Barry and Shimange have been playing Currie Cup rugby for the past few weeks. But it is questionable whether their presence has given Province an edge.

Shimange, in particular, is not WP's first-choice hooker and there is no doubt the injured Schalk Brits and Huia Edmonds would earn a place in the starting lineup ahead of Shimange.

Marinos also said SA Rugby would not follow the New Zealand Rugby Union example and try to withdraw key players from the Super 14 for the first half of the series -- a move that has caused News Corp great dissatisfaction. It owns the broadcast rights for the Super 14.

Marinos said he met the provincial CEOs three weeks ago and an agreement was reached in which the players would be managed throughout the series using rotation systems, as are used by the Sharks in the Currie Cup.

SA Rugby will also be in constant contact with provincial coaches to monitor the condition of the players.

"New Zealand is the only Super 14 country which has taken a unilateral decision to withdraw a core group of players," said Marinos. "Australia are following the same route as we (SA) will be taking over this."