Heyneke Meyer’s 32nd squad member due to join up with the Springbok team ahead of the first End of year Tour match against Ireland might be tighthead prop Brian Mujati.
According to EWN Sport Meyer could add the Northampton Saints prop to his front row stocks for the Ireland clash this coming weekend, joining Pat Cilliers, Beast Mtawarira, CJ van der Linde, Guthro Steenkamp and Jannie du Plessis.
Whether Mujati actually joins the squad is a different matter altogether as he is reportedly ineligible for selection due to not having a South African passport, being a Zimbabwean citizen.
Meyer follows in the footsteps of Peter de Villiers, who also approached Mujati ahead of the Rugby World Cup last year, but was unable to get the player involved.
Should the Mujati move not work out, Frans Malherbe is expected to join Springbok squad for the remainder of the tour.
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Will be a good back up for Jannie
He has been capped by SA before, hasn’t he?
@Argex (Comment 2) : Yes, in 2008 I think.
Mujati played the entire 2008 season, getting 12 Caps
So technically he’s not eligible for any other country. I can’t understand why passport issues should be a problem. Probably the same situation as with Mtawarira a few years back.
@Argex (Comment 5) : the problem could be that mujati hasn’t been living in SA for the past 4 years while mtawarira and imraan tahir were living here when their applications were fasttracked to allow them to play for our national teams.
@Argex (Comment 5) :
@Megatron (Comment 6) :
Mega has it spot on..
Even though he represented South Africa, he is currently without a South African passport, and in legal terms, not eligible to represent the country..
@Megatron (Comment 6) : Okay. But don’t you give up your citizenship once you decide to play for another country? How it works here in South America, is that you relinquish your ID of birth, then you take on the ID of your adopted country. Unless he has decided to switch back.
@Argex (Comment 8) : according to the IRB’s rules, Mujati could play TOMORROW for the Boks BUT according to our COUNTRY’S laws one needs to be a CITIZEN to represent South Africa.
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA Jan 26 2009 14:21
South Africa’s most popular sports are on a warpath with the Department of Sport and Recreation over new legislation that was sent out in December when the leaders of most sporting bodies were on annual leave.
Minister of Sport and Recreation Makhenkesi Stofile and his department are now being accused by sports leaders of wanting to add provisions to the Sports Act so the department has “unbelievable control” over the major sporting codes in the country.
Two of the biggest sporting codes — rugby and cricket — have asked for an urgent meeting with the department and the issue could even go to court as sporting bodies prepare to defend themselves against the Act
One of the controversial clauses determines that players of foreign origin who want to play for a national team need to be “in possession of a South African passport”and cannot just depend on the three-year qualification rule that most sporting bodies employ.
This is in direct opposition to the International Rugby and Cricket Boards’ regulations and will mean that Springboks Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira, Brian Mujati and Tonderai Chavhanga will not be allowed to represent the national squad again.
It will also mean that the hopes of Titan’s Pakistani-born spinner Imran Tahir will be dashed if he wants to represent the Proteas.
If the law was passed, it would also make it impossible for Bafana Bafana coach Joel Santana to coach the team. The clause reads that any foreign coach needs to “have coached a national team for at least five years” before he can coach a South African national team.
Transgressing the law in this regard would mean a fine or even a jail term of up to 10 years.
SA Rugby president Oregan Hoskins admits he is worried about the legislation.
Megatron, the world’s leading Rugby search engine!! 😀
@Pokkel (Comment 10) : 😀
Unlikely they will sort out citizenship if the guy has not lived in SA for such a long time. So just another one of the rumour mill
@Megatron (Comment 11) : Jeez you guys have complicated systems 😉
@Argex (Comment 8) : not complicated at all. you said “How it works here in South America, is that you relinquish your ID of birth, then you take on the ID of your adopted country.”
this is what our government implemented too!
in terms of the IRB thomas waldrom is STILL a new zealand citizen but plays for England because he has an English granny. He didn’t have to “relinquish ID of birth”.
@Megatron (Comment 14) : I see. I didn’t know that Waldrom is still a NZ citizen.
It’s really easy to play for SA you must be SA citizen. Promote local stars. Mujati will never play for bokke again!
And now Rumours on N24 point to Heinke vd Merwe.
Either HM is having a good laugh at the media or he is sending everyone on a wildgoose chase before actually calling up Chadwick and playing him out of position.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 17) : That move would at least be consistent with my opinion of Lion Colon Meyer