Springbok Sevens coach Paul Treu requested the use of rogue winger Lionel Mapoe for the upcoming Commonwealth Sevens tournament, but was refused by the Free State Rugby Union.
SuperSport can reveal that Treu had accredited Mapoe on request of his agent and the national selectors to be part of the South African team for the tournament in New Delhi, India, but the request was turned down by the Cheetahs.
Mapoe has been in a contractual dispute with the Cheetahs for six months now, and will head to the High Court in Bloemfontein on Thursday after he hasn’t returned to the city since losing the arbitration case in his favour.
Treu confirmed the request, saying he didn’t want to get involved in the dispute, but was looking to help the player get some playing time while he was in limbo. Mapoe is a Sevens Springbok and knows both the structures and game plan of the Sevens squad, and would have been a welcome boost to South Africa’s hopes of getting a medal at the Commonwealth Games.
“I just thought it would be the ideal chance for him to get some time on the field, which is valuable for a player like him who hasn’t played for some months. Naturally it would also have aided us in our quest for a medal in the competition,” Treu told SuperSport.com “I have to say that I am disappointed, not only for ourselves but also for Lionel, who needs to put this behind him and get back onto the field again.”
Mapoe lost the arbitration dispute almost two months ago, but has still been training in Durban with the Sharks since declaring his contract with the Cheetahs invalid. The Cheetahs are disputing this and have asked for a court interdict to compel Mapoe to head back to Bloemfontein and join up with his former province.
nail hom
Our team may not be going to the commenwealth games anyway. Cause of the state of the Athletes Village there. It is a total mess. Oz, Nz and England might pull out totally cause of it.
Think Mapoe will rather stay in Umhlanga for now 😉 😀
@ Puma:
With that 100 000 a month pay who wants to leave the Beach and all its attractions.
There are two issues here in my opinion, Mapoe should have gone back to the cheetahs and waited for the court case to decide his fate. I am sure he is listening to the wrong people here and this could undermine his career in future.
The Cheetahs are going to alienate the wrong people if they continue thos quest of being
“spiteful”. I would think it is in their interest to keep their side of the matters as polite and fair as possible.
What if the court decides in their favour, then Mapoe has to come back, relationships will be marred and he most likely won’t give his best. So what do they do then? You can’t bench a player when you have to pay him a salary that stretches your budget already.
eish, this is getting nasty!
it is a little petty of the cheetahs to block him, the cheetahs are not making any friends outside of their union.
if i were the cheetahs, i would ask the sharks for R1m transfer fee, and put the whole thing to rest…
Its the time of Professionalism.
In a work situation (which essentially this is) it is normal to suspend an employee until the legal decisions are final, then one meets with the employee in a disciplinary procedure if he has lost the case. If he wins the case his employment contract then comes into play and his future is decided via that document. If Cheetahs allow him to play, in my opinion it could weaken their case as it sets a precedent. Its tantamount to letting someone come back to work after he has been accused of something, but guilt or innocence has not been established yet.
He must sit on the sidelines unfortunately.
Just as an aside, if he is found guilty the Sharks might be culpable for some of his pay in the meantime.
IMO the Cheetahs are acting correctly in this case.
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