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Crusaders release Oli Jager as rumours swirl around triple qualified prop's future
Crusaders appear to have released Oli Jager, the Irish tighthead who had set his sights on becoming a New Zealand All Black.
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It’s being reported in New Zealand that Jager has been granted an early release from his current contract – which was to run until 2024 – so that he could take up another opportunity.
Jager was not named in the Crusaders official Super Rugby squad, with just five props retained by the championship-winning side.
The London-born-prop who was raised in Ireland has plenty of options and his leaving the Super Rugby champ has led to widespread speculation that the 28-year-old may be returning to Ireland.
With Leinster set to lose Samoan tighthead Michael Ala’alatoa to Clermont next season, the prospect of an Irish-qualified tighthead of Jager’s calibre being picked up by the province becomes a real possibility. A Kildare native, Jager will also be on have been on the radar of all four provinces.
Given he is leaving New Zealand’s most successful franchise, it seems that Jager may have given up on his dream of becoming an All Black.
“I think I’ve made it pretty clear in the last couple of years that I want to be an All Black,” Jager said in 22 when asked about his international allegiances. “I’ve put a lot of effort into it, I’ve stayed in New Zealand. This is my sixth year in Super Rugby. I feel like I’ve been here long enough that I really feel part of New Zealand and I really feel like I’ve got a lot of friends in the team.”
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Despite coming through the Irish system and playing for renowned Irish rugby nursery Blackrock College, Jager left for New Zealand and attended the Crusaders international high-performance unit in 2013.
“Obviously being from Ireland, born in England, growing up in the northern hemisphere you hear of everyone coming up from the southern hemisphere to England, Ireland. Everyone in the northern hemisphere has had a couple of players play up there, the Bundee Akis, the (Riki) Fluteys, all those players,” Jager told RugbyPass last year. “You never hear really the other way around and it’s a pretty cool thing to be able to have the chance of doing it – but doing it is a whole other story. I feel like I need to get a lot better, really focus my game a lot more. But at the moment to answer your question, I would probably like to see myself as an All Black ahead of Ireland.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Kok will become a fan favourite
1 Go to commentsI am really looking forward to Leigh Halfpenny playing his first Super rugby game for the Crusaders Playing a long side his former Welsh and Scarlets team mate Johnny McNicoll.Johnny has been playing great, back in a Crusaders jersey.The attack has strengthened big time. Also looking forward to David Havili at 10. David is a class act, it also allows Dallas McLeod to remain at 12. A good thing.
1 Go to commentsIf he had stopped insisting on playing in the backrow, instead of wing, where everyone told him he should, he would have been a Bok years ago….
11 Go to comments‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
19 Go to commentsCan’t wait for the article that talks about misogyny in Ireland. Somehow.
16 Go to commentsI would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
16 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
84 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
2 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
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