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The criticism that breaks the heart of CJ Stander... and the hint that he might not yet be finished playing rugby
Soon-to-retire CJ Stander bid adieu to the Irish nation on Friday night with an appearance on the country’s biggest TV chat show, The Late, Late Show, to mark the end of a nine-year stay at Munster which resulted in him going on to enjoy a 51-cap Ireland career which also saw him capped for the 2017 Lions in New Zealand.
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The 31-year-old South African became Irish-eligible in time for the 2016 Six Nations championship, running out for a Dublin debut versus Wales after serving the requisite 36-month residency period that World Rugby will now increase to 60 months at the end of 2021.
Ireland’s use of project players, uncapped signings from overseas who can become Irish-eligible on the basis of living in the country for three years, has at times been an emotive subject with critics of the system bemoaning how players who come through rival rugby systems are parachuted into the Ireland set-up ahead of locally produced players.
It was last November when New Zealander James Lowe became the eleventh foreigner to be capped for Ireland since the IRFU embraced the project player scheme in 2012 when capping South African Richardt Strauss.
Some players have been a success in terms of the number of caps they went on to win, others not so successful, and when it was put to Stander if the criticism over him being a South African in an Ireland jersey bothered him, he got emotional with his reply.
"Axel was there, he was there" ?
Rugby player CJ Stander recalls the tribute paid to the late Munster and Ireland rugby hero Anthony Foley#LateLate pic.twitter.com/0WAgQIG9y2
— The Late Late Show (@RTELateLateShow) May 21, 2021
“It actually breaks my heart,” he said nine weeks after he last represented Ireland in their Six Nations win over England in Dublin. “I wanted to show that I am proud, so proud, playing for Munster firstly and you get a chance to play in the Irish jersey because a lot of people spent a lot of time in me as a person. I felt it from day one and that is probably the one thing that I am going to miss, the culture that we have in Ireland that everyone looks after everyone and then there are a few people that think that it’s not okay for me to be there.
“The players who came after me and before me did the same thing, came in, played their hearts out for that jersey and wanted to give something back. It’s a tough job firstly to be there and to perform and then to have negative comments coming your way like that… you can block it out but it always comes to you. If someone sees you on the streets and talks about it, asks you the question, it breaks my heart because they don’t know me and they don’t know what my goals were and what I wanted to achieve.”
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Stander had been a valued centrally contracted IRFU player since agreeing to a three-year deal in December 2017 but rather than take up their offer to extend that agreement, the back-rower decided early in 2021 to spurn that opportunity and instead retire at the end of this season with Munster.
Given his reputation as a player who was rarely if ever injured during his career, it was felt when it was announced in March that retirement had come much too soon for Stander and there was speculation that he might eventually re-emerge at one of the South African franchises sometime in the future, an idea he appeared to fuel when remarking on The Late, Late Show: “Yeah, I think I have got a lot of rugby left in me for sure. I’d say at least seven years.”
Stander then went on to explain why he opted to retire and will soon head home to South Africa from Ireland. “I was in South Africa during the lockdown, I got an opportunity to go back and spend time with my family and realised what is important for me, took stock of where I want to be in a few years.
“Our daughter Everli, having her there and seeing how she interacted with the grandparents, I went to my grandparents’ grave and I stood there and thought I missed their funerals, but that was not the problem. The problem that I was struggling with was I missed the last nine or ten years of their lives. That was tough, very tough, and I said to Jean-Marie [his wife] that I don’t want to take that opportunity away from Everli at all.”
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Zeebs will be watching on from Paris when the Kiwi makes his Ireland debut on Friday night https://t.co/uywc7ZPTjc
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 11, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
Don’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
9 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
33 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
2 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
33 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
49 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
33 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
33 Go to commentsI’m a pensioner so I've been around a bit. My opinion of SBW is he is an elite athlete and a great New Zealander and roll model. He has been to the top and knows what he's talking about. To all the negative comments regarding SBW the typical New Zealand way, cut that tall poppy down.
17 Go to commentsI'm not listening to a guy moralise over others when this is the guy who walked out mid season on Canterbury RLFC when he had a contract with them, what a hypocrite. Those praising him are a joke.
17 Go to commentsI’d put Finau at 6 instead of Blackadder but that’s the only change I’d make. Can’t wait to see who Razor picks.
33 Go to commentsTamati Williams, Codie Taylor, and Same Cane? Not sure about Hoskins Sotutu at test level. Wasn’t that impressive last season. Need a balance between experience and talent/youth.
33 Go to commentsInteresting insight. Fantastic athlete, and a genuine human being.
17 Go to commentsThey played at night in Suva last weekend and it’s an afternoon game forecast for 19 degrees in Canberra this weekend. Heat change is a non issue.
1 Go to commentsWishing Rosie a speedy recovery
1 Go to commentsObscene that SA haven’t been knocking
1 Go to commentsChances of Blackadder being injured seem too high to give him serious consideration. ABs loosie combination finally looked good with 2 committed to tackling and clearing rucks in the centre and Ardie roaming. Hoskins/Ardie together would force one of them into where they don’t excel and don’t get to use their talent, or require a change in tactics. If we continue to evolve last years systems I would take Papali’i and Finau at 6 and 7 (conceding that Blackadder will be injured) and Ardie at 8.
33 Go to commentsArdie’s preferred position 7? Where do they get these writers from? I've no idea where he's playing in Japan, but the previous two seasons he wore the 7 jersey exactly twice.
17 Go to commentsNot good to hear Ulster described as “financially troubled”. Did not think it was getting to that level. I would hope the Irish system of spreading players of talent away from Leinster would kick in now. Better to have a Leinster fringe player with Ulster or Connacht, then getting only a few games a season in Dublin. 10, for example, would seem to be a case for spreading the talent. I would not be at all adverse to a SA man coming in as head coach/DR. Ludeke is worth trying. Certainly got a long and impressive coaching career at this level…..149 games in SR, then Japan, 30 years experience. And Ulster’s ledger of successful SA coaches and players is on the positive side. Is talk of Ruan Pienaar interested in coming back as a coach…..could be a good combination with Ludeke. And Pienaar and family would have no settling in to do, one would judge. He loved life in Ulster when there, by all reports.
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