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Premiership club confirms signing of Stormers prop Kwenzo Blose

Exeter have signed ex-Stormers prop Kwenzo Blose (Photo by Getty Images)

Rob Baxter has followed up Tuesday’s confirmation that Exeter have signed midfielder Tamati Tua from the Super Rugby Pacific Brumbies by revealing that the Chiefs have also recruited ex-Stormers prop Kwenzo Blose ahead of the new 2024/25 season in England.

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Blose was on the 15-strong list of end-of-season leavers unveiled by the John Dobson-coached URC franchise in June and having since trained with Exeter, the Premiership club have now rubber stamped his signing on an unspecified length deal.

A statement read: “Exeter Chiefs have signed loosehead prop Kwenzo Blose to add depth to the forward pack ahead of the 2024/25 season. The nimble front rower, who is a former South African U20, moves to the northern nemisphere from United Rugby Championship side, DHL Stormers.

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“Born in Paulpietersburg, the 27-year-old, who gained seven Junior Boks caps, made his professional debut for Cape Town-based Western Province in 2018. He made 41 appearances and has played 18 times for the Stormers in the URC.”

Baxter said: “People will be aware that over the last couple of seasons we have lost a lot of experience at loosehead with guys like Alec Hepburn and Ben Moon either leaving or retiring. We were delighted with how durable Scott Sio was and how many games he played for us last season.

Head-to-Head

Last 5 Meetings

Wins
2
Draws
0
Wins
3
Average Points scored
22
30
First try wins
60%
Home team wins
80%

“We thought we had some back-up lined up with Nika Abuladze, but he was very fortunate to receive a fantastic offer from Montpellier and one which worked for him and his family, so we were happy to make that work. However, that did mean that we have had to go into the market to strengthen our crop of props.

“We are delighted to have gotten hold of Will Goodrick-Clarke, who is training fantastically well, but we still looked for some more experience to back up those two senior players. So, as soon as we saw someone like Kwenzo becoming available, we had a call with him and watched him play plenty of rugby.

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“As he is with us now, he has settled in well. He arrived with a slight neck strain, but we have progressed through that to have him in full training, doing live scrums with us now. He promises to be an exciting, strong and very important member of our squad going forward.”

Blose added: “I’m really excited to join the Chiefs and I’m looking forward to contributing as much as I can to the club’s success. A club with huge ambitions, a loyal fan base and a rich history. I hope to add as much value as I can, and I can’t wait for the season to get underway.”

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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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