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Sale Sharks leaver Hyron Andrews to return to South Africa


SALFORD, ENGLAND - JANUARY 19: Hyron Andrews of Sale Sharks during the Investec Champions Cup match between Sale Sharks and RC Toulon at Salford Community Stadium on January 19, 2025 in Salford, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
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Sale Sharks lock Hyron Andrews is returning to South Africa to join the Lions after the United Rugby Championship outfit qualified for the Champions Cup next season.

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The Gallagher Prem side announced a month ago that Andrews would be one of 20 players who would be leaving the club when their contracts run out at the end of the month in a massive clear-out of their bloated squad.

Andrews, 30, spent eight years with the Durban-based Sharks before moving to Greater Manchester two years ago, where he made 45 appearances, including 19 in all competitions, in the season that has just ended.

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Lions boss Ivan van Rooyen needs to strengthen his side ahead of next season, and Andrews, who represented the South African Schools team and Junior Boks, is a player that he has been keeping tabs on for several weeks and has persuaded him to put pen to paper.

Andrews, who hails from Paarl in the Western Cape, is a specialist number five who will replace Raynard Roets. Roets has revealed that he is leaving for the Pro D2 side Biarritz on a two-year deal once his Lions deal runs out on July 1st.

The Lions finished seventh in the URC this season, winning 10 of their 18 games, an improvement of four places and have so far only confirmed the arrival in Johannesburg of Springbok loosehead Boan Venter from URC rivals Edinburgh.

Van Rooyen is also losing fly-half Gianni Lombard to the Sharks, while former Sharks, Gloucester and Urayasu D-Rocks hooker Franco Marais is retiring, and Zimbabwean full-back Tapiwa Mafura, who only played once this season, is also on his way out.

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The Lions are also likely to bring in at least one more player in addition to Andrews and Venter, with a tighthead most probably on their shopping list after Bok Asenathi Ntlabakanye was suspended for 18 months.

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3 Comments
A
Ayre123 None 18 hours ago

The signing of Andrews was always a puzzle, more so with many saffas on Sale’s book at the time and who knew Hyron Andrews was merely a surplus to requirements at the Durban Sharks?

It all smacked as a shrewd Agent doing the rounds?

J
JD 52 mins ago

Well he was a short term deal due to a Jonny Hill injury in March 2024 (Sale had 6 saffa’s on their books then out of their 42 man squad). He was a replacement lineout man effectively. Hill then got banned until January 2025 due to his fraccas at Bath, so Sale kept Andrews on for one more season. In March 2025 it was announced that Hill and Beaumont were off so suddenly Sale lost height and experience in the row with only EVR and Bamber there, one primarily a back row, the other very raw. Signing Andrews for one more season again made a lot of sense given he was a solid performer, if unspectacular.


If you actually look into this it made a lot of sense having him and worked for Sale. He filled a gap while they developed the next guys coming through such as Bamber, Burrow and Hogg.

R
RM 17 hours ago

Totally agree, what did he do in all his appearances, not all Italians are good footballers as not all South Africans can play in the second row ( effectively).

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