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The 15 Springboks that have returned to South Africa in the last 12 months

By Online Editors
Duane Vermeulen prepares for a scrum during South Africa's win over England in Yokohama (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Most of South Africa’s top teams have been bolstered by loads of Springbok experience as some big names have decided to return home after overseas commitments. No fewer than 15 Springboks – with a combined total of 522 Test caps worth of experience between them – have opted to return to South Africa in the last year.

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The Bulls have been very busy bolstering their playing stocks with experienced Springboks.

Morne Steyn (66 caps), who made more than 100 appearances for Stade Francais, and Juandre Kruger (17 caps), who was with Racing Metro and Toulon in France, and Scarlets in Wales, returned to Loftus Versfeld before the start of the 2020 Super Rugby season, and they have since been joined by a further six Springboks.

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Joining Steyn and Kruger at Loftus Versfeld will be Duane Vermeulen (54 caps), Gio Aplon (17 caps), Marcel van der Merwe (seven caps), Nizaam Carr (five caps), Arno Botha (two caps) and Travis Ismaiel (one cap).

Vermeulen, a World Cup winner with the Boks last year and a former Toulon star, will again don the famous light blue jersey after opting to return to South Africa from Japan, where he was playing club rugby for Kubota Spears until the COVID-19 pandemic shook the world.

The experienced Aplon, a former BlitzBok and Western Province star, spent the last six years abroad, playing for Grenoble in France and Toyota Verblitz in Japan.

Carr, like Aplon a favourite in Cape Town earlier in his career, was with Wasps in England from 2017, while Van der Merwe (Toulon in France), Botha (London Irish in England and Munster in Ireland) and Ismaiel (Harlequins in England) are all back in Pretoria, where they played before packing their bags to experience life in Europe.

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Looking at some of the other teams, first to have their passports stamped by local customs were JP Pietersen and Ruan Pienaar, who returned to South Africa last year during the Currie Cup after nine years with Ulster in Ireland and Montpellier in France.

Pietersen, with 70 Test caps to his name, linked up with his former Sharks teammates in Durban from French club Toulon, while Pienaar (88 caps) played a pivotal part as the Free State Cheetahs ended up winning the Currie Cup.

Double World Cup-winner Frans Steyn (67 caps) “followed” Pienaar to Bloemfontein recently as he signed with the Cheetahs after a number of years of playing club rugby in France (Racing Metro and Montpellier) and Japan (Toshiba Brave Lupus).

Jannie du Plessis – a teammate of Pietersen, Pienaar and Steyn in the Springbok squad that won the Rugby World Cup in France in 2007 – has also found his way back home and joined the Lions in Johannesburg earlier this year from Montpellier in France.

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The experienced Du Plessis (70 caps) was joined in Johannesburg by three more Bok forwards in Willem Alberts (43 caps from Stade Francais in France), as well as Jaco Kriel (11 caps) and Ruan Dreyer (four caps), both of whom played for Gloucester in England.

Source: Rugby 365/SA Rugby

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Jon 8 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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john 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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