Rassie Erasmus must decide between Jaco Taute and Francis Saili

Rassie Erasmus has admitted Munster cannot afford to retain both Jaco Taute and Francis Saili for next season and their respective futures with the province will be decided in the coming days.

Munster were last December given special dispensation by the IRFU to extend short-term signing Taute for the remainder of the season. The South African centre had joined as injury cover for Saili and has kept the New Zealander out of the starting line-up since his recovery from two shoulder operations. Yet both players will be out of contract at the end of the season with Saili, believed to be Munster’s highest earner, linked to a number of English clubs and Erasmus will be under pressure to reduce the number of overseas signings in line with the IRFU’s player succession policy for homegrown talent.

Speaking after Munster’s 50-14 thumping of Connacht, in which both featured, Saili scoring a second-half try off the bench, Erasmus said: “We all know there are only so many foreign spots we can fill. First thing, if we had the money, we would like to keep everybody. We don’t have the budget to keep everybody.