Jacques du Plessis
Flip van der Merwe
The Blue Bulls Company (Pty) Ltd on Friday confirmed that efforts to keep Vodacom Bulls locks Jacques du Plessis and Flip van der Merwe in Pretoria have been unsuccessful, with both players taking up contracts in France at the end of the domestic 2015 season.
Du Plessis has signed a two year deal with Montpellier and Van der Merwe will join Clermont, also after the completion of the ABSA Currie Cup competition.
The BBC’s High Performance Manager, Xander Janse van Rensburg said talks with both players have been ongoing for some time.
“We want to thank both players, who were upfront with us from the start about offers from abroad. Flip has been a loyal servant to the Vodacom Bulls since 2009 and always made it clear that he would consider offers from abroad after the 2015 Rugby World Cup, especially as he does not have a Springbok contract. He has been a tremendous asset to the whole team and franchise over many years,” Janse van Rensburg said.
The offer made to the 21-year old Du Plessis was way beyond anything the Blue Bulls Company could even dream of putting on the table, according to Janse van Rensburg.
“Jacques is one of the real upcoming stars in the game and this offer received from France is testament to that. We have been negotiating since June 2014 and he has indicated that he would like to return to the Bulls after the 2 years. That is good news to us, as he should also be in Springbok contention by that time.”
The Vodacom Bulls have some good back-up coming through the ranks, as they have planned for a possible loss of players after the Rugby World Cup 2015.
“We have planned for events like this and have some of the best young locks in the country on our books already. Guys like RG Snyman, Dennis Visser, Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, Marvin Orie, Irne Herbst and Jason Jenkins are all amongst the best in their age groups and will be able to compete at a very high level,” Janse van Rensburg said.
“It remains a massive battle to compete against the massive offers from abroad, especially as the exchange rate counts heavily against us, but we are confident that through good planning and scouting, we will be able to remain a very competitive franchise at all levels.”
The Blue Bulls Company also confirmed the release of Ulrich Beyers, who will join Bordeaux-Begles in France with immediate effect.
Fark, if the Frogs, Poms and Kawasaki’s keep buying our players and coaches the Kings are guaranteed to be the Conference Cup winners next year 🙁
Even Oom Piet might get a coaching job again 🙂
Is hulle nie huursoladte nie?
@ Loosehead:
Hi Loosehead, nah just professionals trying to earn a living it’s the other teams that are Poachers
Kitchoff also leaving WP, SARU will seriously need to look at the evolving rugby landscape, playing for the Springboks is simply not a drawing card anymore.
het nou net iets baie intteresant gelees,du plessis was skynbaar baie ongelukkig omdat lappies se selaris meer as dubbel syne is hy wil ook nie slot speel nie.die bulls se bestuur sal moet werk aan hulle lojalityd teen oor hulle spelers,mbonambi cj stander oor onder sulke omstadighede weg
5: Smallies, as dit waar is oor JDP wat jy daar noem, dan is my mening die volgende –
dit lyk my die jonger geslag wil net ‘demand’ en ‘demand’, en nie hard werk vir sukses nie. As ek nie ‘n boktrui kry voor ek 21 is, of my posisie kan speel nie, dan is ek weg.
Ek is seker iemand soos Danie Rossouw wou ook graag losskakel vir die Bulle speel, maar het goeie diens gelewer vir ‘n dekade as slot en flank by Bulle en Bokke. 😉
Nee wat, hierdie jong geslag oor die algemeen is niks anders as net 99% spiere en so 1% lojaliteit nie. Ek mis karakter en tradisie, rugbyspelers gaan so met die tyd verdwyn as ons kinders se ‘helde’, die lewe het te maklik vir hul geraak, dit is net glamour en geld.
Brendon Nel se artikel se titel is profeties: Is rugby in danger of losing its soul?
Rugby, RIP ?
@ Ben-die-Bul:
ek stem saam mwt jou,maar kan ook sy punt insien hy het naam gemaak as flank en het waarskynlik gedink die is sy deurbreek jaar en toe kom daar n ou van n ander profinsie af teen twee keer jou pay.dink net as dit by jou werk met jou gebeur.ek meen waarom dan al wat n jong speler is kontrakteur en hulle dan basies verfang soos dut jou pas,dinge by die bulls het nie so gewerk nie
MacroBull wrote:
Well, you might have THAT wrong … I believe playing for the Bokke is still a drawcard, but:
Playing for your Province/Franchise & earning ZAR whilst you can be playing abroad and earning GBP, EUR or JPY WHILST REMAINING ELIGIBLE FOR BOK SELECTION is what makes playing your rugby in the RSA not a drawcard anymore…
Add to that ancillary local issues such as crumbling infrastructure & service delivery, rampant crime & corruption & poor education standards, then for the professional sports person playing abroad is (sadly) a no-brainer …
Can’t really see what SARU can do about this other than insist that only our rugby players playing locally are eligible for Bok selection …
@ Angostura:
as per nzl
@ smallies:
& Aus
@ Angostura:
Huh? young NZ players are also leaving.
Young Aus players as well, it will get worse there as well.
The landscape is changing all over the Southern Hemisphere.
We could also look at factors such as the booming development of youth rugby that is developing more and more top young players especially in South Africa, these guys wont all get an opportunity at senior rugby yet they all want to play rugby professionally.
There are obviously players that are happy with what they get and only want to play for the Springboks, but rugby is big business, especially in France who will essentially host the champions league of rugby eventually.
I agree that we should select locally, but there are many reasons people leave the country in all sectors of business.
MacroBull wrote:
Name them …
5 @ smallies:
Hello smallies, sal interressant wees om dit te lees waar het kan ek gaan kyk na wat jy gehoore het (as dit sin maak)sonder al die feite dink ek dat ek maar net kan spekuleer, maar soos jy daar noem is daar twee dinge wat ‘n verskil kon maak. Time to switch to English, quicker to type in for me, I can understand if there is a money issue that there can be unhappiness but it does come as a surpise that there is the size of the difference that you have referenced.
Playing at lock instead of flank is possibly also a grievance that is understandable although from his man of the match performance against Saracens you wouldn’t have thought he didn’t want to play lock, I guess the proof will be to wait and see if he is only used as a flank at Montpellier… I was along with others already suggesting after seeing his stature and reports of his fantastic performances at Junior World Cup that I thought at the time that he would possibly still have a bit of growing to do that he would be a good fit instead at lock, although I thought no 5. lock and that the Bulls should put him there and he would have a great chance to learn from the master Victor Matfield. From the explanations since it seems as if the plan may have been to move him to lock last season already but that Bulls were short on loose forward options.
There are I guess various reasons that drive us to make decisions so am sure that even if the two mentioned are some of them that there are others, some negative ‘pushes’ and some positive ‘attractions’. For example maybe as a youngster the players just want to get an experience of travelling/spending time in another country – what better way to do it than playing a sport and being paid a lot to do so, in years gone by before they changed the regulations folk under 25 could quite easily (from what I gather) get a young persons visa to come and work and travel here in the UK, loads of youngsters did exactly that, many of them ending up working part time as waiters or barman or doormen etc, staying in communes with other folk from around the world and also travelling and experiencing different horizons too.
Difficult to know how to feel other than big disappointment that a player from your club is leaving and one that is a very good one already with potential to be a great – who would be a coach at times, these things make it really tough but then again is what pro football coaches have had to deal with for a long time already.
@ bullscot
http://m.news24.com/sport24/Rugby/Jakes-hitlist-targeting-SA-talent-20150209
12 @ Angostura:
Hi Angostura, not so sure about the Aus players as I don’t know them too well, but an example that I have just from seeing what is happening at Edinburgh is Jade Te Rure (21 year old flyhalf who played Junior rugby for New Zealand as high as u20 World Cup) and his fellow Kiwi – Hugh Blake (a flanker) who is only 22 and came over in December and now finds himself in Scotland’s Six Nations squad, Blake played U20 rugby for New Zealand in SA in 2012 World Cup. These are only two examples and am sure there could be many more if one had the knowledge of the details of all the goings on in all the rugby playing countries.
14 @ smallies:
thanks for the link smallies will have to check it out later gotta dash here, but from the little bit it says it doesn’t look like it will make happy reading, cheers vir eers.
@ Bullscot:
Thank you for that info, Bullscot
NZ is a highly productive factory of top class #10s & the production line is long … some will get despondent & look for greener pastures. That’s hardly a train smash for the Kiwis.
Others with rugby pedigree & potential but who are not exactly breaking down doors to gain recognition at franchise & national levels in their own countries, might quite understandably seek a less competitive path to such recognition via ancestral or residency qualification for a foreign rugby nation.
Survival of the fittest?
@ Angostura:
There are a few kiwis that are gping over lately dont think i need to name them.
Aus players less so, berrick barnes is onenoff the top of my head. Digby ioane another. Thing is its hard to determine the young players lost to rugby league and afl from the outside, but i think there would be quite a few age group players that choose to leave rugby.
@17 good pos. and i agree completely. And at age group level things are very competitive in sa. Just recently Rohan janse van rensburg left the bulls for the lions complaining that he isnt getting enough opportunity at the top… Gets to the lions and he doesnt even make the super rugby squad.
Oh and another thing is that young players are leaving because of SARU’s 50% quota policy soon to be implemented.
When you look at that young players would be STUPID not take take overseas contracts for big money. Makes more sense than making way for a quota this weekd. And to go play for centurion rugby club for R500.
@ MacroBull:
It is not just rugby players that we are losing.
We are bleeding young professionals – on a massive basis. Annually.
IAAS wrote:
I was shocked when I arrived here to see how many doctors are here.
Nearly all my SA friends are doctors and we have met a lot more at braais and get togethers
All guys the country could have used
no doubt South Africans are more likely to leave because of the above reasons, but claiming that it is only OUR problem and Australasians aren’t affected or wont be because of their select local policy is foolish.
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/aru-appears-to-be-asleep-as-europe-takes-its-valuable-wallabies-20150208-138e2x.html
Users Online
Total 329 users including 0 member, 329 guests, 0 bot online
Most users ever online were 3735, on 31 August 2022 @ 6:23 pm
No Counter as from 31 October 2009: 41,783,343 Page Impressions
_