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There's been a dramatic twist in Schalk Brits' search for a new club

Duane Vermuelen comforts Schalk Brits (Getty Images)

Schalk Brits, who came out of retirement to play for South Africa in their series win over England in June, has had to find a new club after a deal to sign with the Stormers fell through.

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Brits, 37, was scheduled to join the Cape Town based Super Rugby squad but financial problems affecting the franchise became a major factor. The Western Province Union, which has the Stormers as its franchise, has been battling serious financial issues with reports they are planning to contract 60 players less in 2019 than they did this year.

Nizaam Carr, who joined Wasps, Dewaldt Duvenage and Raymond Rhule were amongst the first to be released. Western Province have been forced to deny they are imposing a 25 per cent cut on all staff, management and players earning more than R20 000 a month.

He has now signed for the Bulls, who in contrast has reported a profit for the last year thanks to the £200,000 they received in compensation from the Rugby Football Union who wanted head coach John Mitchell as England’s defence coach.

Brits hopes the move will help in his bid to prove he deserves to make the Springboks World Cup squad in Japan.

Brits spent a decade at Saracens helping them to European and Premiership glory and retired at the end of last season to bid for a place at Cambridge University with the aim of taking part in the Varsity Match. That has been put on hold but he still wants to undertake a course and play in one of the most famous rugby fixtures in the sport once his season with the Bulls is over and any World Cup involvement is finished.

Continue reading below…

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Brits is in the Barbarians match squad to face Argentina at Twickenham on Saturday having had to bide his time as an unused member of the Springboks European tour squad. The Baabaas are coached by Rassie Erasmus, the Springboks coach, who believes Brits input could be vital in a team lacking experience heading into the World Cup.

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Brits, who has won 11 caps, has kept himself fit with a punishing training programme and is relishing the thought of getting back into action against the Pumas. He told RugbyPass; “ I planned to go the Stormers but then I received a message saying they had financial issues and so now I will be joining the Bulls. I will start training with the Bulls in January and it is fantastic to be joining them and while it is for one season it is exciting. After the World Cup I am definitely done!

“I have been waiting a while to get my boots on and I am really looking forward to Saturday’s match against a very good Pumas team. I will have to merit my selection for the Bulls and if I am successful then I will give myself a chance with Boks to make the World Cup.”

Tickets for the Barbarians v Argentina Killik Cup match start at £20. www.ticketmaster.co.uk/barbarians

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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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