Francois Steyn
Tanerau Latimer
Japanese Rugby club Toshiba Brave Lupus have announced that Springbok Frans Steyn and All Black flanker Tanerau Latimer have signed with the club.
The club have won the Japanese Top league four times and already have the likes of Richard Kahui and Cooper Vuna on their books.
rugbyweek
Twenty-eight-year-old Chiefs flanker Latimer has been with the Chiefs since 2007 after making his Super Rugby debut for the Crusaders in 2006.
Speaking on the Lupus site Latimer said, “I am very much looking forward to being able to join the Toshiba Brave Lupus because it is one of the strongest team in Japan, I will do my best to make it stronger. I am very happy that I had an opportunity like this.”
Latimer has won five All Black caps and has captained the New Zealand Maori team.
Sharks back Frans Steyn can play at fullback, centre or flyhalf and is known for his big kicking abilities. This will not be the first time that Steyn has left South Africa as between 2009 and 2012 Steyn played in France for Racing Metro.
Steyn returned from France in 2012 and helped the Sharks win the Currie Cup title in 2013 and has won 53 caps for the Springboks. He was not selected for the 2013 end of year tour.
“To play for the Toshiba Brave Lupus is a great honour,” said Steyn on the Lupus site.
“I want to study Japanese culture and language, and more than anything I hope to help the Toshiba Brave Lupus win.”
Both players will complete their Super Rugby commitments before leaving for Japan.
I think it is best for Frans Steyn to go play in Japan, far less game time there, so his dodgy knee can heal properly.
Then again, if he plays there, I do not believe he should play for the Springboks in The Rugby Championships!
Hey GBS
First time on the site – I remember you from the Keo days, when you left at some point – obviously to sart up this one. Nice going.
I think its very interesting how many top players are signed at overseas clubs, and Meyer is still picking them. Frans off to Japan, Goosen off to France and the list goes on.
Heyneke might even be encouraging this to selected players, as they seem to get better managed overseas, giving Meyer fresher players to work with at the beginning of the season…..
I mean of the team that will play in the WC next year, the following players are overseas
Bakkies
Habanna
Goosen
Louw
J Fourie
FdP
Morne
JP
Zane
Burger moving to Japan
Gurthro
Pienaar
I may have missed a few, but that is already a lot of overseas based players making up the squad….
I ask again, has this been planned by Meyer intentionally….. very interesting
Add Frans to that list too – thats 13 players. Are there more I have missed?
2 – 4 @ Blokkies:
Hello Blokkies, welcome to Rugby-Talk, the Friendly Rugby Website & Discussion Forum!
With Frans Steyn & Johan Goosen going overseas, there are now 51 Springboks who will be plying their trade overseas and only 47 Springboks plying their trade in South Africa!!
It is a worrying trend, the lure of the stronger currencies are draining SA dry.
Personally I think SA Rugby must start weaning the Springboks off using too many overseas players… maybe an ever smaller cap limit on the number of overseas Bokke to be used.
The reason I say this, and even though it is a professional game, it will serve two very important purposes, namely:
1. Make players who have Springbok ambitions think twice to grab the lure of the stronger currencies and thus keep more players in SA.
2. The overseas players are not available to take part in Springbok Training camps, to the most extent and some of them are not available for all Tests in a Year, thus disrupting Springbok planning and continuity.
PS! What was you nickname on Voldy (Keo)?
@ Blokkies:
Thats an interesting viewpoint, but is workload much smaller in europe? I think there was one week the top 14 teams had to play 2 games in one week with heinekin cup included, I am not sure if it happened again, the top 14 teams play 23+ games a season then you have to include heinekin cup which will be 8 or so more games for semi finalists.
Without rotation our local springboks could play 16+ games of normal season superrugby and 2 or 3 currie cup games.
Not to forget that if it was not for injury guys like habana and bakkies would have been playing for a year and a half straight.
I did not follow Morne, JPP and Zane, but give or take a few weeks injuries, they have been playing since January last year?
Sorry Bakkies obiously didnt play superrugby last year.
@ grootblousmile
Thanks for the welcome – ja since Voldy self-imploded I wondered what happened to all the bloggers. Seems a few of them are here, sweet.
I actually gave up worrying about the player exodus a while ago. To be honest, they learn different skills, grow as human beings, participate in incredible conditioning and training systems (which differ from our own – never a bad thing) and of course get comfortable in completely different playing conditions.
Watching how players are played into the ground in the S15 – with coaches not caring about the Bokke (*cough-cough** jakeandalistair*cough) maybe Meyer has a better relationship / understanding with the overseas coaches re resting players?
I dont know anything from a factual point of view – I am just guessing – but it seems like a lot of the players that Heyneke knows what he has in them, are going overseas with HM’s blessing, and still getting picked for the Bokke….and its not just a few drops now, its a flowing river…. HM doesn’t do anything without meticulous planning, so is it part of his strategy to do this?
8 @ Blokkies:
Most of the level-headed Voldy Bloggers seems to have come over, making Rugby-Talk stronger than ever.
As you will see at the bottom of every Rugby-Talk web page, we are now already over 10.25 Million Page Impressions.
We now get between 410 000 to 450 000 Page Impressions (clicks on the website) a month… and the curve is still heading up, up, up!
At one stage today we had 120 people Online similtaneously… we are nice and busy!
Hey Macrobok
I don’t know much about the European leagues except for watching the odd game, semi’s and finals (purely because there are so many Saffa’s).
So not sure how tough their season is compared to ours, but they seem to be extremely professional and players are rotated as they cost so much so need to be looked after…thats just how it seems to an average plebb like me, anyway.
Oh yes, a player I left off the list is Juan Smith – did anyone catch the awesome team try he rounded off in the Heineken Cup final? Not sure what his future holds, but man he is playing like the good old yster of old!
@ grootblousmile:
Yes it looks like the site is doing really well – congratulations I am sure its been a labour of love.
Will definitely spread the word.
I’m off to Forries for an end of week quiet one. And maybe a couple of loud ones.
Enjoy the game tomorrow everyone, and if anyone has a ticket or 2 they not using, please shout!
11 @ Blokkies:
You’ll see, we all have Gravatars (the little picture thingy next to our comments), so go grab yourself one.
You’ll find the directions under ABOUT in the Top Menus, under Gravatar Creation – How To.
It is perfectly safe!
Just make sure you use your E-Mail Address you used to register at Rugby-Talk, when you do it, otherwise the Gravatar will not show on Rugby-Talk.
12 @ Blokkies:
O, OK, so you are a Cape Town dude… enjoy!
@ Blokkies:
Hello ‘ Blok Joubert ‘ !
Welkom hier!
@ Blokkies:
Blokkies,
Juan Smith had a great time
Regarding game time: A guy like Ruan Pienaar played 1573 minutes of rugby in the season before joining the boks, while Jean de villiers played 1186 minutes.
This year Ruan only had to play 1193 minutes this season, so who knows he might actually rock?
Ruan played 1573 minutes last season
😆 @ MacroBok:
@ Pietman:
Dankie Pietman. Dit lyk baie lekker om hier ‘n effens te kuier
@ Blokkies:
Hopefully 😉
Blokkies wrote:
Ja, RT is n ok rugby pub….ouens vloek net soms bietjie baie hier….veral die Sharksmanne
19 @ Blokkies:
Ons kuier hier ‘n hond uit ‘n bos uit, of ‘n bergie uit ‘n waterpyp uit!
21 @ Pietman:
Flok, gepraat van die Tjarks… hulle is nog steeds skaars, en dis al amper ‘n week wat hulle wegkruipertjie speel!
Welkom Blokkies
Altyd lekker om nog Stormers hier te he.
Geen Sharks meer nie, net Snoek, maar hy kan n punch vat so hy is nog hier.
Die ander het bietjie gevlug na hulle deur n klomp laaities pak gekry het
😀
En hulle is nog kwaad vir van ons oor ons nie wil insien hoe fantasties hulle span en afrigter is nie
Speaking of Voldy, it’s his birthday today.
Happy birthday Mark
nortierd wrote:
May the Blue Bird of Happiness…
Cr*p all over his birthday cake…
@ BrumbiesBoy: a friend of yours then BB?
😕
nortierd @ 25
mark verjaar ook?
nou wat het dan vi my die idee gegee hy’s nie gebore nie?
28 @ Ashley:
As hy nie gebore is nie, is hy seker maar uitgebroei.
I wonder how many lines… errr I mean candles will be on his cake today!
28 @ Ashley: Toe hy gebore was het die dokter sy ma geslap…
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