Danré Gerber, son of the great Springbok centre Danie Gerber, is off to ambitious Bayonne as a ‘medical joker’ – a replacement allowed in a Top 14 squad, in France, in the case of injury.

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Gerber is effectively a replacement for Craig Gower – the Australian who plays for Italy – who damaged knee ligaments when Italy played Argentina in November.

Gower suffered anterior cruciate ligament damage and will undergo surgery. He will be out of action for six months, missing the 2011 Six Nations and, of course, the remainder of the 2010/11 Top 14 season for Bayonne.

Bayonne has invested in South Africans before.

They tried to get Springboks Bryan Habana and Wynand Olivier and at present have on their books Joe Pietersen, Rob Linde and Sam Gerber, Danré’s cousin who played for Eastern Province before going north to the Pumas of Mpumalanga and then, in 2006, further north to Europe. Cousin Sam is an inside centre.

Gower, a former rugby league player for Penrith Panthers, plays flyhalf for Italy but mostly at centre for Bayonne who have as flyhalves Benjamin Boyer, Sylvain Bouillon and Sébastien Faque. Gerber is thus a good replacement for Gower in terms of versatility as he could play any place in the backline from flyhalf outwards.

Danré Gerber was born in Port Elizabeth just before Christmas 1988 but when his father went to coach the Pumas of Mpumalanga he grew up there and went to Hoërskool Middelburg, playing flyhalf in a challenging 1st XV. In 2009 he moved to the Cape and started his provincial career with Boland.

Father Danie believes that golf is his son’s best bet, but clearly rugby is winning at the moment with the youngster having signed a young player’s contract with Bayonne.