Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Sharks fighting to keep Aphelele Fassi amongst transfer rumours

Aphelele Fassi collects the ball for the Sharks. Photo by PHILL MAGAKOE/AFP via Getty Images

Sharks Director of Rugby Neil Powell made it clear that he wants Aphelele Fassi to extend his stay in Durban.

ADVERTISEMENT

Recent reports suggest that the Stormers are eyeing the Springbok’s services. The 25-year-old’s contract expires at the end of this year and a move to Cape Town could be hard to turn down after the Stormers’ success on the field recently.

The Stormers were the subject of several transfer reports last week with flyhalf Manie Libbok linked to French club Racing 92. Rugby365 was told that a ‘BIG‘ transfer fee for the pivot, coupled with a player swap would be very attractive for the Cape franchise.

Video Spacer

Video Spacer

If that were to happen, Fassi could provide the Stormers with extra options in that backline as Damian Willemse will probably take over the flyhalf duties.

However, Powell is hoping it doesn’t come to that and the Durban franchise is ready to present Fassi with a new offer.

“We are obviously negotiating and we would like to hang onto Fassi,” Powell told reporters on Thursday ahead of his team’s United Rugby Championship clash against the Lions on Saturday.

“We will have those discussions with him away from the game and when we feel it’s appropriate to speak to him about it.

ADVERTISEMENT

“We don’t want to take his focus away from this weekend [against the Lions] and what we need from him this weekend.”

Related

On that fixture at Ellis Park on Saturday, Powell knows how vital it is to get a win after his team suffered a demoralising 19-46 defeat to the Stormers two weeks ago.

“We all know these next three games [Lions, Ulster and Stormers] will be important, but again the focus can only be on our performance,” Powell explained.

“I think sometimes you get beaten by a better team and sometimes you play well enough to be successful and the only things we can control is what we want to achieve from this weekend.

ADVERTISEMENT

“We have planned accordingly and selected the team accordingly. I think we will take it one game at a time.

“It’s no use focusing on the Ulster [Durban] game or the Stormers game in Cape Town in two weeks.

“The focus and the energy needs to go into this game against the Lions.

“From a mental and a physical perspective, we will make sure that we pitch up for that game on Saturday.”

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

F
Flankly 1 hour 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?

4 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Are the All Blacks doomed to a 70% flatline? Are the All Blacks doomed to a 70% flatline?
Search