Sale Sharks sign Springbok flyhalf Du Preez on three-year-deal

Sale Sharks have announced the signing of flyhalf Rob du Preez on a three-year deal.

Rob will be re-joining the North-West Gallagher Premiership club after the 2019 Super Rugby campaign concludes after an impressive loan spell in Manchester earlier this season.

The 25-year-old fly-half started his career with the Western Province and the Stormers in Cape Town, making 57 appearances over 4 years, scoring 483 points. He then went on to join the C-Cell Sharks in Durban at the start of the 2018 season, where he won the Currie Cup under the tutelage of his father Robert Snr before spending a short time on loan with Sale in the Gallagher Premiership at the end of the year.

He instantly impressed, often in adverse conditions, scoring 81 points in 9 games for the Manchester-based side.

Rob will re-join Sale Sharks at the end of this year’s Super Rugby campaign.

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Commenting on the announcement, Rob said:

“I’m delighted to have signed for Sale and was very flattered when Dimes called and asked if I would consider joining the boys full-time in Manchester.

It was an extremely difficult decision to leave The Sharks and Durban, especially with the family connections I have here but I feel as though it is the right time in my career for a new challenge, a change of scenery and feel I can continue to test myself in the Gallagher Premiership after the taster I had in 2018.

The club have extremely high ambitions and with the calibre of signings that Sale are making I feel I can play a big part in the future of the club and can’t wait to get started in the UK.

In the meantime, I am fully committed to the Cell-C Sharks here in South Africa and will give everything I have during this year’s Super Rugby season and hopefully build on last year’s win in the Currie Cup to produce some more special memories before I leave.”

Sale Sharks’ Director of Rugby Steve Diamond added, “Rob came to us last year from the Cell-C Sharks with an outstanding pedigree and impressed everybody here at Sale from day one.

He quickly established himself as an integral part of the matchday squad and in his short time at the club fitted into the environment at Carrington seamlessly. Rob is exactly the calibre of player we are looking for in our quest to challenge for the Gallagher Premiership and we look forward to welcoming him back to Carrington after the conclusion of the 2019 Super Rugby competition.”