Phokeng – Earl Rose has done it again.
The Lions player and his younger brother Jody deserted the Lions camp at the Platinum International Sevens Tournament here and returned to Johannesburg without permission.
Sport24 & SuperSport
The brothers were part of a Lions team that also included other contracted and Super 14 players Robert Kruger, Shandré Frolick and Chris Jonck.
The Lions team lost to the Sevens Springboks and @lantic Invitational side on Saturday. Earl Rose struggled with his form, and was involved in a stiff-arm incident against an opponent.
The Springbok, in the news earlier this month because he did not want to represent the Leopards as a loan player, apparently had had enough and decided to return to Johannesburg with his brother.
Lions coach Jorrie Muller received an SMS from both brothers: “They said that they are sorry about their performances and felt that their form was not up to standard. That is why they went home,” Muller told Sport24.
“I tried to phone them to find out what was going on, but they did not answer my calls. We therefore had to continue with only 10 players. To say that I’m angry and disappointed with their behaviour is to put it mildly.”
Muller said his team had been picked at short notice and it was hoped that they would provide good opposition for the Sevens Springboks with a view to the South Africans leaving for the Commonwealth Games in a week or so.
This may well signal the end of the road for the Rose brothers. Jody has played little this year due to a knee injury, while Earl has played club rugby.
As contracted players they had to play at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium. However, the chances are now slim that the union will honour or extend their contracts.
Muller said he would definitely recommend action against them.
Meanwhile, the Sevens Boks won the tournament by beating Zimbabwe in the final. They beat the Lions 31-0 in the one semifinal, while the Zim-Cheetahs beat the Northern Unions 27-7 in the other semi-final.
Magtig… this is incredulous…. send the 2 Roses to Siberia!
With Jorrie Muller as coach can anyone actually blame them?
2@ Loosehead:
Hehehehe, I never thought about it THAT way….
As my late Father in Law used to say, “a F*ck up will remain a f*ck up all of his life. They can’t change. It’s not in their make up.”
Guess he knew a thing or two!
Rose and his brother was only notified on Thursday that they were required to participate in the tournament. Concerned whether this would be wise given they had no practice sessions with any other team members and that they would play against the Springbok Sevens bound for the Commonwealth Games in a code they have not played for a while, the brothers were assured that an experienced team would be assembled to limit one-sided rompings and possible injuries against a fully professional Sevens outfit.
“Lions management assured us that we would have a decent, experienced team to take the field which was important to us especially given we had no time to train and we would come up against the Springbok Sevens team.
“It is not that we did not want to play, we both wanted game time but when you play a code you have not played in for a while, against the best in the business with team mates you never practiced and most of whom you actually only meet on the morning the tournament kicks off, it does become a concern especially given the nature and the timing of the tournament which is in contract renewal or extension time where we cannot afford unnecessary injuries,” Rose said.
Given the assurances from the Lions they committed to the tournament, however things quickly turned out different from then on in.
Firstly the accommodation was of such a nature that players were expected to share a room between 3 players, of which one had to sleep on a bunk. Earl and his brother decided to rather book their own accommodation 14 minutes drive from Rustenburg at their own expense.
Of the ‘experienced’ (Sevens) players promised to join them for the tournament, only Shandre Frolic was present.
However, they decided to continue given they have already committed to the tournament but as was feared, given the lob-sided nature of the teams injuries was not far off.
“Jody got injured in the first game where he hurt his shoulder, and as luck would have it, the only other experienced player, Shandre, was left concussed. I also took a heavy knock on the hip in that game,” Rose confirmed.
“Jody started the second game but had to leave after about a minute given his injury. I also aggravated my hip injury which made playing very uncomfortable. Following the game I went to the team physio who confirmed a heavy knock to my hip and given there was a break in the tournament, she told me that I need to assess whether I can continue playing or not.
“During this break we went back to where we stayed and given the nature of the injuries we decided it would not be in our best, or the team’s best interests to continue – remembering that Sevens requires quite a lot of running and handling.
“I sent the coach (Jorrie Muller) a text confirming our situation to which I still received no reply, either through text or a phone call.
“I was as surprised as anyone to read this morning how he (Muller) tried to get hold of us as we received no correspondence back from him in any way, and I am quite happy to make phone records available to prove this and I still have the text I sent him.”
Rose also claimed that throughout the ordeal that they had been in contact with Mac Hendriks from the Lions union as-well which makes Mullers claims that they deserted their team even more bizarre as they communicated their situation best they could given the nature of the circumstances.
Rose was set to meet with Lions management this morning to clear matters up.
You have to wonder how rugby in this country is run and the relationships management have with players.
Every time a player does something, he is hung out to dry, then afterwards we hear the player’s side of the story. Vice verca also applies.
Earl Rose is not my favorite player, but treating him and his brother in this manner is not acceptable either.
Also makes me wonder how good a preparation this was for the sevens Bokke.
It seems like simple communication to me.
If you are going to leave go and have a face to face with the coach, before making that decision.
Let’s face it, the brothers Rose have not exactly covered themselves in glory with previous actions. Hence what could be termed a “knee jerk” reaction from people, myself included.
Having said that, knowing the GLRU as I do, I can honestly believe the players’ side of the story as well.
Seems like we’re left with 3 versions here. The Rose version, the GLRU version, and THE TRUTH.
Looks like the real truth will never see the light of day.
@ Scrumdown:
Call me old fashioned, but since when do you make a decision to LEAVE a team before the end of the competition and then justify this by sending the coach an SMS telling him of your decision??
Is this the society we live in today?
@ tight head:
Unfortunately it tells you what the state of professional rugby is in SA.
@ tight head:
Well, if an employee of a normal “company” did it they’d be disciplined with a strong likelihood of instant dismissal.
5@ Morné:
Even considering this lot of info from the Rose brothers, it still does not ring true to me, like Tight Head says, you talk to the coach personally and you stay with the team, anything less than that is half-hearted and a sham.
Loyalty and committment is totally lacking here… let them go earn some Euros and some pounds… and let’s see how far they go with this type of attitude.
Earl and his boetie have fallen so far from grace in the space of less than 4 months that they are non-commital and de-motivated at present.
Neewat, swak karakters…
@ grootblousmile:
Not up to me to comment whether Earl is lying or not, I felt that since I had the resources to do this, ask him for a comment which is what I got (above) to provide more balance (not only Jorrie’s story).
Whether Earl lied or not, well thats on his head.
Contributing circumstances do however suggest there was a lot more to this than simply deserting the team and Jorrie not being able to get hold of them as he claimed.
@ Morné:
It’s amazing to me that some news headlines are now claiming this to be the fault of poor communication from the Lions.
Whereas it seems like the Lions are indeed poor at management and communication, the simple point is that the responsibility is with the player to act correctly when deciding to no longer take part in the tournament.
Once again, it seems like we have so called professional relationships which are completely lacking in respect and any moral decency.
This is indeed a 2 way street because as a coach you lay down the parameters of behaviour, although it does not excuse the player in this case.
What do you think Kitch Christie would do to a player who left by SMS?
To change the subject, where is Dan Retief writing at the moment?
I miss a decent rugby journo, when there are few about!!
13@ Morné:
I’m not suggesting Rose lied… I do not know what was said or not… what I do say is that they did not feel the compunction to talk to the coach face to face, which would have been the correct thing to do.
From experience I know a story more than often than not has more than one side, often more than 2 or 3 sides even… and then there is the truth…
@ grootblousmile:@ tight head:
I think it was a poorly organised affair from the getgo which could and should have been better handled by both Lions and players in question.
For one I understand the player’s concerns being notified only on the Thursday for a tournament that weekend and having contractual obligations flashed in their faces to have them play.
But then also an sms is not good enough and unfortunately no-one knows where Jorrie was but I think its obvious the players, in the break, returned to where they stayed for the tournie.
Shitty situation all round with no-one coming out cleaner either side.
As for Dan, he has his own blog, danretief.com, some good stuff on there.
@ Morné:
Thanks Morne.
16@ Morné:
Agreed, it stinks all over!
Question I ask is whether I would want Rose to work for me or be part of a team I manage… and the answer is, no thank you.
Couldn’t care less about Earl…only earl I like is Earl grey tea 🙂
Bos, die Bulle like vir Earl, hulle like hom stukkend. Daar’s n’ nommer 10 trui wat vir hom wag.
@ Scrumdown:
That’s no lie!
Your later father-law- sounds like a wise man, a true Karoo boer 🙂
@ Pietman:
Pietman
Dit was my gewese vrou se Pa. Ook ‘n wyse man maar van Manchester in Engeland. Amper so wys soos Geoff Boykot
My SkoonPa wat onlangs oorlede is in die Karoo
@ Scrumdown:
was maar ‘n man van die grond.
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