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'Hopefully we can get back': Sam Whitelock keen on Super Rugby return to South Africa
Crusaders star Sam Whitelock says he is eager to return to South Africa in a Super Rugby capacity, two years after the departure of the country’s teams from the competition.
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The Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers all left Super Rugby following the global outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020, paving the way for a move north to join Europe’s United Rugby Championship, previously known as the Pro14.
That move brought an end to a 25-year Super Rugby alliance between New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, with the former two countries continuing the competition with a Pacific-centric focus with the inclusions of Moana Pasifika and the Fijian Drua.
In spite of the South African teams’ decision to align themselves with clubs from Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Italy, the Springboks remain in the Rugby Championship.
The South African Rugby Union confirmed earlier this year that the Springboks will stay in SANZAAR’s annual international tournament – which also features the All Blacks, Wallabies and Los Pumas – until 2025.
After four years away from South Africa, the All Blacks will return to the Republic for two tests in this year’s edition of the competition, their first visit to the country since 2018.
Whitelock will likely join his countrymen in travelling to South Africa, a prospect he told media earlier this week that he was relishing.
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However, the All Blacks veteran, who will play for the Crusaders against the Chiefs on Saturday, also indicated that he hoped to return to South Africa with the Christchurch-based franchise at some point in the future.
“South Africa, they play a certain style,” Whitelock said when asked about how he has found the rebranded Super Rugby Pacific competition without the South African franchises.
“They’ve got big, strong guys, that’s their strength, that’s the way they like to play. It is something that I do personally enjoy having in the Super Rugby environment because they’re hard to play against.
“Going over there travelling, it’s an awesome place to travel to, but, also, it’s very hard to play there.
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“It’s something that I’ve been lucky enough to have in my career so far, and hopefully we can get back at some stage, whether that carries on as Rugby Championship or Super Rugby.”
Between his Super Rugby debut in 2010 and South Africa’s exit from the competition, Whitelock toured the country every year with the Crusaders, who normally played two South African teams per trip to the Republic.
The 33-year-old lock also captained the Crusaders to their first title in nine years when they beat the Lions in Johannesburg in the 2017 Super Rugby final, the only to be won by a foreign team on South African soil.
In spite of those fond memories of his time in Africa, Whitelock maintained that Super Rugby Pacific still has a strong competitive edge, even without a South African presence in the league.
“I think it’s quite early in the season at the moment, but there is some close games that have gone on, and I think it just shows how tight this competition is,” he said.
“We haven’t had any cross-over games yet, so while we’re still obviously in New Zealand, it’s going to be interesting when we do get those cross-over games just to see where everyone’s at.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 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
3 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 Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 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!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 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.
30 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.
30 Go to comments