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Du Preez places his Springboks hopes on 'doing a Faf' at Sale

(Photo by Malcolm Couzens/Getty Images)

Robert du Preez is hoping to follow Faf de Klerk’s lead and revive his own international career after the livewire scrum-half helped South Africa lift the World Cup by defeating England in the final in Japan.

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De Klerk and his now-famous South African flag budgie smugglers are on their way back to Sale Sharks after the Springboks trophy tour of their country. 

The No9 has become a rugby icon in South Africa having forced his way back into the Springboks side after enduring a Test exile before his form with Sale and a review of regulations governing overseas-based players led to Rassie Erasmus recalling him. 

Erasmus has embraced the idea of Springbok players taking up contracts outside South Africa and with another World Cup winner Lood de Jager soon to join de Klerk at Sale when he has recovered from his shoulder operation, there will be plenty of attention on the Premiership outfit where all three du Preez brothers are now based 

That focus could help catapult du Robert du Preez, whose only cap to date came against Wales in 2018, and his twin brothers Dan and Jean-Luc, also capped by South Africa, back into the selection mix.

(Continue reading below…)

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Du Preez will make his Heineken Champions Cup debut for Sale when the travel to Glasgow Warriors on Saturday and it is this kind of quality match that will provide all three brothers with a high profile stage. 

He said: “Rassie has made it clear that he will pick players on form and players like Cheslin Kolbe, who wasn’t previously in the mix, had an outstanding couple of seasons with Toulouse and was one of best players for the Boks.

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“I can’t speak for my brothers but if it turns out we play good enough rugby to get back into the Bok mix then that would be amazing. I haven’t ruled any of that out, but first I have to do my best here at Sale. If it goes well then hopefully other things will happen.

“It will be great to have Faf back. He brings real energy and will be arriving with a very nice Speedo tan! It will be exciting to have all the guys back, including Tom Curry and Mark Wilson and then Lood when his shoulder has recovered. Faf loves the club and the culture and he will come back with some real confidence from the Boks.”

Du Preez made a positive impact during his three-month short-term deal with Sale last season and admitted a dip in form when he returned to the Durban-based Sharks led to plenty of discussion among local fans about his place in the team which, at the time, was coached by his father, also Rob. 

Coaches having their own sons under their command is not unusual. You had Andy and Owen Farrell at one stage with Saracens, as well as Dai and Thomas Young currently at Wasps, but the Sharks squad took this to another level with all three du Preez boys coached by father Rob.

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He left the head coach role in July and all three sons signed deals committing their immediate playing future to Sale. Both Jean-Luc and Daniel had originally signed short-term loan contracts for part of the 2019/20 Premiership but joined Rob full-time in deciding to stay in England

One player who unfortunately will not be able to help the Sale cause for six months is Josh Beaumont. Injured in last Friday’s win over Wasps, he has since undergone knee surgery.

WATCH: The one line in the salary cap rules that is likely to become a legal battleground for Saracens

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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