It’s taken a while for confirmation to come out of Durban, after Cobus Reinach was confirmed earlier in the week to have signed for Northampton. Sharks COO Eduard Coetzee gave the franchise’s side of the story this morning in a no-holds-barred interview with The Mercury’s Darryn Pollock.
I’ll not repeat everything that was said in that piece, but it echoes themes that we’ve been harping on for a long time – namely, that local franchises feel their hands are tied when it comes to retaining top talent, mostly because of failures on the part of the national body. Coetzee alleges that while Reinach’s desire was to stay in Durban with the Sharks, a lack of clarity from SA Rugby regarding a contract as well as his international future gave him little option but to take the big-money foreign offer. Reinach, let’s remember, was controversially omitted from South Africa’s World Cup squad in 2015 and has seemingly received no assurance or even had any contact with anyone in the Springbok setup since then, hence the decision to sign abroad. Coetzee further reveals that although SA Rugby did – eventuality – come up with a contract offer for Reinach, this occurred weeks after he has already signed the Northampton deal.
This story takes me right back to a conversation with another Sharks and Bok – flank Marcell Coetzee – who shared a very similar story with me in a hotel lobby in Toulouse. Like Reinach, Coetzee had been left out of the World Cup squad and was left to flounder in the wilderness, unsure of his Springbok future, all the while seeing a huge-money offer from Ulster lying on his desk. In these cases, the decisions tend to make themselves.
The good news, for Sharks fans, is that Pat Lambie is staying put. His Sharks contract (unlike Reinach’s) is still valid for a couple more years and Pat will not break that contract, despite, I’m sure, feeling many of the same frustrations as the other two. Brace yourselves, though, for many other players to make the trip up north just as soon as they are able to, because with no restriction on the selection of foreign-based players for the Springboks, coupled with SA Rugby’s reticence (or inability?) to work proactively with unions to secure talent, there is absolutely no reason for them to stay.
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Inability. The word is inability.
Jurie Roux is to SA Rugby what Hlaudi is to SABC
Soon Springbok teams will get a social feel to it……a get together from all over the world due to a lack of hegemony amongst players.????
Well that just pisses me off.
How happy must Rudy Paige be? Now he can continue to put in below average performances week after week and still get the nod for the national side.
Reinach’s story reminds me a little bit of Rory Kockott a couple of years ago. Only difference is that SA Rugby now deprived him of playing for any other national team for the next couple of years.
One gets the impression there’s too much manoeuvring and too little administrating on the go at SARU.
@boertjie101 (Comment 6) : Well simply for ever, he is not allowed to play for any other international team but the boks.
I will never blame a player for leaving for more money or better playing conditions (as long as he does not make silly comments about owing the team and repaying them for their support and then two weeks later sign for another team!!!)
Good luck Cobus and hope you make a huge impact at your new team!!!
Sigh…just sigh…