Du Preez places his Springboks hopes on 'doing a Faf' at Sale
Robert du Preez is hoping to follow Faf de Klerk’s lead and revive his own international career after the livewire scrum-half helped South Africa lift the World Cup by defeating England in the final in Japan.
De Klerk and his now-famous South African flag budgie smugglers are on their way back to Sale Sharks after the Springboks trophy tour of their country.
The No9 has become a rugby icon in South Africa having forced his way back into the Springboks side after enduring a Test exile before his form with Sale and a review of regulations governing overseas-based players led to Rassie Erasmus recalling him.
Erasmus has embraced the idea of Springbok players taking up contracts outside South Africa and with another World Cup winner Lood de Jager soon to join de Klerk at Sale when he has recovered from his shoulder operation, there will be plenty of attention on the Premiership outfit where all three du Preez brothers are now based.
That focus could help catapult du Robert du Preez, whose only cap to date came against Wales in 2018, and his twin brothers Dan and Jean-Luc, also capped by South Africa, back into the selection mix.
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Du Preez will make his Heineken Champions Cup debut for Sale when the travel to Glasgow Warriors on Saturday and it is this kind of quality match that will provide all three brothers with a high profile stage.
He said: “Rassie has made it clear that he will pick players on form and players like Cheslin Kolbe, who wasn’t previously in the mix, had an outstanding couple of seasons with Toulouse and was one of best players for the Boks.
“I can’t speak for my brothers but if it turns out we play good enough rugby to get back into the Bok mix then that would be amazing. I haven’t ruled any of that out, but first I have to do my best here at Sale. If it goes well then hopefully other things will happen.
A lot of work goes into @fafdeklerk 's golden locks…@Jono__Ross serves up his scrumhalf teammate and talks salary cap, crime in his native SA and living in 'small' Manchester
– as told to @heagneyl 👨💼https://t.co/4NTCIzl4wX
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 10, 2019
“It will be great to have Faf back. He brings real energy and will be arriving with a very nice Speedo tan! It will be exciting to have all the guys back, including Tom Curry and Mark Wilson and then Lood when his shoulder has recovered. Faf loves the club and the culture and he will come back with some real confidence from the Boks.”
Du Preez made a positive impact during his three-month short-term deal with Sale last season and admitted a dip in form when he returned to the Durban-based Sharks led to plenty of discussion among local fans about his place in the team which, at the time, was coached by his father, also Rob.
Coaches having their own sons under their command is not unusual. You had Andy and Owen Farrell at one stage with Saracens, as well as Dai and Thomas Young currently at Wasps, but the Sharks squad took this to another level with all three du Preez boys coached by father Rob.
He left the head coach role in July and all three sons signed deals committing their immediate playing future to Sale. Both Jean-Luc and Daniel had originally signed short-term loan contracts for part of the 2019/20 Premiership but joined Rob full-time in deciding to stay in England
One player who unfortunately will not be able to help the Sale cause for six months is Josh Beaumont. Injured in last Friday’s win over Wasps, he has since undergone knee surgery.
WATCH: The one line in the salary cap rules that is likely to become a legal battleground for Saracens
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments