Western Province centre Tim Whitehead – who missed their Currie Cup campaign with a knee injury – has signed a deal with the Sharks.
Sport24
The Beeld newspaper reports that the 23-year-old signed a two-year deal with the Durban based side.
Whitehead will help fill the void left by Stefan Terblanche – who announced on Monday evening that he won’t play for the Sharks again. Terblanche is off to Ireland, where he will play for Ulster over the next couple of months.
Whitehead is expected to fight it out with Meyer Bosman, Adrian Jacobs and Marius Joubert for a place in the Sharks’ midfield.
Meanwhile, the Sharks also confirmed that the Du Plessis brothers, Bismarck and Jannie, will be available for them until the 2013 season.
Darn it! Another good one lost. Although for the sake of SA rugby it’s good as the Sharks midfield has been utter shyte.
Whoops, sorry all other provinces, didn’t see him in the back of the cupboard, or would have released him sooner. Well done Sharks for going through the skip and doing your recycling, down here we just tend throw everything on the dump. We’ll never get our ‘eco-efficiency’ badge if we carry on like this.
This makes me think… honestly. And it leads to a very obvious yet very sad conclusion.
But before I get to the conclusion, let me take you through my thought process.
A few years ago, WPRU was stuck with Kobus van der Merwe, and while some of you might think that I have lost my mind, I would honestly rather have had Piet Helium Snor as head coach than that guy. Seriously, he did not have a clue, and basically, it was due to his incompetence that the Stormers dropped to constant mid tablers, and WP could not even make it into the semi finals.
This with a whole host of young and talented players constantly coming through.
In came Rassie and AC. And, though the trophy cabinets at Newlands has still not hosted a major trophy since they came on the scene, (other than U19+21 as well as conference winners trophy) all WP teams has come a long way.
WP and the Stormers are now almost guaranteed to be in the knock out stages or final of their respective tournaments.
Yet they (we) still cannot seem to push through the final hurdle.
At the same time, WP is losing TALENTED young players. In the last 4 seasons (pretty much since the AC, Rassie duo took over) we have lost guys like Francois Hougaard, Anton van Zyl, Joe Peterson and recently JJ Engelbrecht, Johann Sadie and Tim Whitehead.
I have been following the careers of these guys for a while.
Whitehead played for Ikeys, and is a Capetonian through and through. He did his bit for WP at age group level, and well as Currie Cup, Stormers and Vodacom Cup.
JJ and Johann are both age group products or WPRU. They performed brilliantly at each level they represented WP and their Cape-based Uni teams.
Anton van Zyl went to school just down the road from Newlands, and then playing for the Stormers, went all the way to the Baabaas and wowed everyone.
Francois went to Paarl Gym. And if there is one thing about those guys, its that they NEVER forget where they came from.
Joe Peterson honed his skills and rugby in the Cape.
So why would all these guys leave…?
Culture.
It is culture, not skill or coaching that makes teams like the Crusaders and Bulls Champs.
It is culture, by admission of the coaches themselves, that lead the most underachieving teams to win the Super 15 and Currie Cup in 2011.
It is a RUGBY culture. Hard work, dedication will lead to reward.
I am sure that some will say, well, look at Juan de Jongh, Jean de Villiers, Schalk Burger and Gio Aplon. What about them?
I suppose for some guys the choice is just easier. Loyalty also comes when you become a Bok under a Union.
But this culture is NOT helped on by contracting players who, while they still offer a lot, where not there from the start.
Here, with respect, I am talking about guys like Habana, Jantjies, Fourie, CJ, Meerkat etc.
When you go to Uni, and you live in Res (or Digs) you go in a a NOTHING. But you learn that through participation, discipline, servitude, respect and commitment, you become someone. It is why, when a senior students enters res, NO ONE listens to him. “You don’t understand our culture bru…”
And it is for THIS reason that even the lowest of the inhabitants of the Res will never defect to another res.
And so this is my conclusion. WPRU does NOT have that culture. And it is not because we have a laid back attitude in the Cape. Not at all. Why then does the Cape teams pretty much dominate the Varsity Cup?
No, it comes down to the coaches, their philosophy about the Union, pride and taking care of your own.
It is why, not WP nor the Stormers will win a cup in the near future, and will continue to lose talent.
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