EXCLUSIVE: Wasps' special deal with Springboks over use of Le Roux revealed
Willie Le Roux, the most experienced back in South Africa’s squad, will play just three Rugby Championship matches and one Test in November under a deal agreed with Wasps, his Gallagher Premiership club, RugbyPass can reveal.
Le Roux’s international rugby career has been revived by the arrival of Rassie Erasmus as Springboks coach and the full back was recalled for the Test series win over England in June following an outstanding campaign for Wasps.
When Dai Young, the Wasps director of rugby, signed Le Roux, the full back’s international career had reached a natural end, however, a combination of a new regime in charge of the Springboks and the eye-catching rugby produced in the English season dramatically changed the situation. Now, Le Roux , who has won 44 caps, provides much needed experience to a youthful Springboks backline that will have to do without his talents after the double header with Argentina which kicks off their Rugby Championship campaign on August 18 in Durban – his 29th birthday- with the return in Mendoza a week later and the match with Australia on September 8.
Le Roux, who made his debut for the club in March last year, will then return to Wasps having missed the Premiership games with Worcester, Exeter and Leicester, with Young happy to agree to release his first choice full back for one of the Springboks November tests. If Le Roux remained with the Springboks for the entire Championship he would miss six Premiership matches and only return just before the European Champions Cup begins.
Young is one of the main reasons Le Roux was recalled by South Africa, having met with Erasmus and put forward a compelling case for a Test return for his multi-talented full back.
Young, who is currently overseeing Wasps training week in Portugal, told RugbyPass: “You could ask the question; If Willie had been playing in a Wasps team producing rubbish rugby would he have been recalled? There is no doubt that your style of play helped push his case for a Test recall and we are always delighted when one of our players gets international recognition. However, the fact is that when we signed Willie we didn’t expect him to be playing for South Africa, but he goes with our best wishes.
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“Willie is likely to miss our first three Premiership matches and we have worked this out through discussions with everyone involved. It is great that he is back in Test rugby and with a change of coach, Willie wanted to be part of it again. Willie will be back for three Premiership games leading into the European matches and he may go back for one more game with South Africa so the maximum games he will miss for Wasps will be four.
“Rassie has been good to deal with and every player wants to play Test rugby if they have that opportunity and if there was a different regime in charge of South Africa then I don’t know if Willie would have wanted to continue. The World Cup in Japan next year is a massive draw and we have seen players getting back involved with Australia. If this was the first year of the four-year World Cup cycle that may not be the case.
“We haven’t had a fight about this because we saw the writing on the wall in June when he returned for South Africa in the series with England and did well. Prior to the change in coach, we had never had any contact with South Africa about players in our squad.”
Young believes his squad can cater for the loss of Le Roux in those opening three games with Rob Miller ready to take over at No15 while Jimmy Gopperth can also play in that role, along with New Zealand Sevens player Ambrose Curtis who has arrived to bolster the backline options, which include All Black No10 Lima Sopoaga, who has replaced Danny Cipriani, now a Gloucester player.
South Africa are set to use the uncapped Stormers No10 Damian Willemse at full back during the Rugby Championship to offer an alternative to Le Roux.
Comments on RugbyPass
I hope Leinster’s proud of themselves fielding a poor team. They should decide if they’re all in or not.
1 Go to commentsJordie is looking at 16 games maximum if Leinster reach both the URC and champions cup finals. Thats not guaranteed. Some of those home URC fixtures will be cakewalks as well for Leinster and there is not much doing during the 6 nations in Feb and March so he can probably get a decent rest then. He will have to really put in it for maybe 7 or 8 games max. It should be a good move for both.
13 Go to commentsThe game was a quarter final, not a semi final. Barrett will be here for 6 months, he is no one's replacement at 13. That mantle will most likely ultimately go to Jamie Osborne, though Garry Ringrose has at least 4 more years in him. The long term problem position (in the next 3 years) for Leinster is tighthead prop, though there are a couple of prospects at schools level.
24 Go to commentsSo much for all that hype surrounding the ‘revival’ of Aussie rugby. The Blues were without the likes of regular starters Perofeta, Sullivan, Christie etc… This was a capitulation of the highest order by Australia’s finest. Joe Schmidt definitely has his work cut out for him.
2 Go to commentsYes they can ignore Sotutu. Like Akira Ioane plays OK at Super level but gets lost in tests. Too many chances too many failures.
2 Go to commentsA wallaby front-row of Bell, Blake and Tupou…now that would be hefty
1 Go to comments“But with an exceptional pass accuracy rating “ Which apart from Roigard is not a feature of any of the other 9s in NZ. Kind of basic for a Black 9 dont.you. think? Yet we keep seeing FC and TJ being rated ahead of him? Weird if it’s seen as vital to get our backline beating in your face defences.
1 Go to commentsThanks BeeMc! Looks like many teams need extra time to settle from the quadrennial northern migration. I think generally the quality of the Rugby has held up. Fiji has been fantastic and fun to watch
13 Go to commentsLets compare apples with apples. Lyon sent weak team the week before, but nobody raised an eyebrow. Give the South African teams a few years to build their depth, then you will be moaning that the teams are too strong.
41 Go to commentsDid footballs agents also perform the scout role at some time? I’m surprised more high profile players haven’t taken up the occupation, great way to remain in the game and use all that experience without really requiring a lot of specific expertise?
1 Go to commentsSuper rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
13 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
10 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
13 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
6 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
25 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
6 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
10 Go to comments