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Jamie Roberts leaves Bath with 'immediate effect' as Super Rugby swap confirmed

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Former Wales centre Jamie Roberts is to leave Bath with immediate effect to play the 2020 Super Rugby season with Siya Kolisi’s Stormers.

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Roberts, capped 94 times by Wales and with three Lions Test appearances, arrived at the Recreation Ground from Harlequins in 2018 and has been granted early release from his contract.

The Stormers have recruited the 33-year-old to add experience to their rookie backline and also act as a mentor, performing a “major role in nurturing the talent around him in Cape Town”.

“It has long been a goal of mine to play in the southern hemisphere. While I’m looking forward to wearing the shirt, my key drive is to perform on the pitch, win week in week out and to help to drive success,” Roberts said.

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“Every time I have been to South Africa it has always struck me as a beautiful country with rugby at its heart, which reminds me very much of home. It feels very special to be able to come and play rugby in South Africa.

“It will also be a fantastic opportunity for me to help impart some knowledge and insight on the many talented youngsters that we have here.”

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Roberts, a qualified doctor, has also played for Cardiff Blues and Racing Metro in a well travelled 13-year professional career.

“I owe huge thanks to Bath for accepting my release and allowing me to take up this incredible opportunity,” he said.

“I didn’t think at this stage in my career that an opportunity like this would come my way. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I’m certain will not come around again.”

To replace Roberts, Bath have signed Fiji centre Josh Matavesi from Newcastle with immediate effect.

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– Press Association

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Flankly 2 hours ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

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