Ireland’s chances in South Africa could be massively boosted by club vs. country rift

The ball has been bazooka-ed into Duane Vermeulen's court.

The Top 14 shifting their end-of-season playoffs to the ridiculously late mid-to-late June dates was always going to end messily. The French league is carrying on all the way up until June 4, and that is just the regular season. After that we have June 11 quarter finals, semis the week after and a final on June 26. All this for a season that began on August 21, 2015. The Blunderbuss approach to scheduling domestic fixtures could now benefit Ireland as Duane Vermeulen is right in the middle of a club versus country tizzy. Vermeulen, who moved to Toulon last summer, was expected to be named South Africa's captain for the three-Test series against Ireland. The fly in the ointment here is that the three games against Joe Schmidt's men will take place on June 11, 18 and 25. The South African Rugby Union has now given Vermeulen an ultimatum - report for international duty on June 5 or retire from international rugby. That is quite the stand to take. However, the softener for Vermuelen - one of the planet's best No.8s - is any retirement would only rule him out of Test selection for six months. Not quite the death-knell but he would miss The Rugby Championship and any European tour in November. Tough call Vermeulen to make but Toulon must be delighted. He'll always have a home in the South of France.