South African Junior Players Returning Home

[mdaclarke]

I note there is a couple of stories about players moving back from France to South Africa. Is this a one-off or is there something bigger happening? Maybe Coronavirus has made people want to go home? Or is it Rassie?

https://www.sarugbymag.co.za/wolhuter-returning-to-the-cape/

https://supersport.com/rugby/pro14/news/200505_Cheetahs_lure_schoolboy_stars_back_to_Bloem

 

[User1245]

I think it's just a volume thing. It used to be the elite players moving over to play out their latter playing years.
Now the above and guys are going straight there out of school based on their potential. Naturally you're going to get some who it didn't work out.

Ultimately it's not a turning of the tide, there's just more players and at varying stages of their career.

 

[RedruthRFC]

I think it's just a volume thing. It used to be the elite players moving over to play out their latter playing years.
Now the above and guys are going straight there out of school based on their potential. Naturally you're going to get some who it didn't work out.

Ultimately it's not a turning of the tide, there's just more players and at varying stages of their career.

I thought the same and it appears to be the case in the second article, but the guy in the first article was thought to be set to sign a contract with Montpellier. Not that I'm suggesting that we can read anything into an isolated case.

 

[User1245]

Bit of generalisation but it seems when a player is home sick it tends to be an Afrikaner. Both Johan Goosen and Frans Steyn spoke about how they struggled with the French cosmopolitan lifestyle compared to their farm/outdoor lifestyle they had back in South Africa.
Obviously not the rule because not everyone comes from a farming background but there's been a quite a few who have even retired early to go work on the family farm. Heck it's even what they call themselves as a group identity. "Boer" which means farmer.

 

[mdaclarke]

https://www.rugbypass.com/news/repo...endrik-wesselsin-sa-set-to-sign-for-the-bulls

Another one returning

 

[User1245]

That's a good return for SA, and for him I think. Still way too green to be tossed into a foreign club system

 

[TRF_heineken]

Well I do think that the COVID-19 Pandemic has had an influence in them returning. They can't play rugby now either in the NH or in SA, but it seems as though SA might be closer to returning to rugby than the NH.

And with most of the NH teams having to do pay cuts, the youngsters from abroad will be the first ones to go, plus with them just sitting around not playing, the homesickness will be even worse.

They are all good returnees, with a bright future.

 

[unrated]

Well I do think that the COVID-19 Pandemic has had an influence in them returning. They can't play rugby now either in the NH or in SA, but it seems as though SA might be closer to returning to rugby than the NH.

And with most of the NH teams having to do pay cuts, the youngsters from abroad will be the first ones to go, plus with them just sitting around not playing, the homesickness will be even worse.

They are all good returnees, with a bright future.

South Africa is going to spike hard soon and when the hospitals can't handle it anymore we will go back to a strict lockdown for two or so weeks. Rugby is very far away in SA from my point of view. And I fear that government has used up their one please stay at home card where everyone listens. If they call a strict lockdown again most people will disobey this time and only the precence of bodies on the street will persuade the public to go back into the lockdown that is so hurtful towards the economy, jobs, poverty and small scale famine.


I would love to be wrong and get some rugby out of some of our departing players before they leave us for the NH, a guy like Esterhuizen. Who knows who else might leave with the 14 day grace period.

 

[TRF_heineken]

South Africa is going to spike hard soon and when the hospitals can't handle it anymore we will go back to a strict lockdown for two or so weeks. Rugby is very far away in SA from my point of view. And I fear that government has used up their one please stay at home card where everyone listens. If they call a strict lockdown again most people will disobey this time and only the precence of bodies on the street will persuade the public to go back into the lockdown that is so hurtful towards the economy, jobs, poverty and small scale famine.


I would love to be wrong and get some rugby out of some of our departing players before they leave us for the NH, a guy like Esterhuizen. Who knows who else might leave with the 14 day grace period.

Yeah, I can see us going back to level 5. But in Fairness, most of the cases are in KZN, Gauteng and Western Cape.

Here in Limpopo we've only had 40 cases, and 2 deaths. With 19 of those 40 already recovered.

I'm hoping that they drop the lockdown for certain provinces when there doesn't appear to be any new cases.

Then let the rugby teams play in those provinces, North West, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Free State and the Northern Cape are all easily accessible without even going into the other provinces with epicentres, and all those provinces have World Cup quality stadiums. Easy to have rugby return, even without spectators.