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Bok prop Ruan Dreyer to jump ship to South African URC rivals

Ruan Dreyer of the Lions reacts during the Super Rugby Final match between the Crusaders and the Lions at AMI Stadium on August 4, 2018 in Christchurch, New Zealand. (Photo by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images)

Ruan Dreyer is on his way from the Lions after speculation about his long-term future with the Johannesburg club continued to gather momentum over the last couple of weeks.

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RugbyPass understands from well-placed sources in South Africa that the former Springbok tighthead, who is under contract to the Ellis Park-based side until December, is indeed on his way to the Sharks.

Dreyer, 33, has spent the last four years in his second spell with the Lions, having rejoined in July 2020 following an injury-ravaged two seasons in the Premiership with Gloucester saw him play just seven times.

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      He followed his former Lions boss Johan Ackermann to Kingsholm in May 2018 alongside his Ellis Park team-mate lock Franco Mostert after helping reach three successive Super Rugby Finals.

      When he returned, Dreyer added much-needed experience to a youthful Lions, which prompted Ivan van Rooyen to liken him to a piece of well-worn furniture coming back into favour.

      “It almost feels as if we grew up with Ruan, so to speak. I was privileged enough to have worked extensively with him (during his first stint) as the trainer for the team.

      “He’s like one of those favourite family chairs that’s back in the house after being a storage for a bit,” said Lions head coach van Rooyen.

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      He made 13 appearances for the Lions in the United Rugby Championship and Challenge Cup last season to take his tally to 123 over his two spells with the club.

      Dryer has been capped five times by his country, the last of which came off the replacement bench in a defeat to Wales in December 2017. He is now set to spend the rest of his playing days with the Sharks.

      We believe that Dreyer, who hails from the famous academic city Potchefstroom, which is southwest of Johannesburg, has put pen to paper on a two-year deal and is in advanced talks about securing an early release from his current deal.

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      J
      JW 26 minutes ago
      Half-back depth is the flaw in 'Razor's' 4-4-4 Rugby World Cup plan

      Well there’s a couple of distinctions here that are important aren’t there?


      First though like I replied to Tk where does it say theres need to test vets, or proven reliable players? It is simply ‘test quality’.


      Now, I have created a list that I think is test quality, so all weve got to do is upskill the missing pieces right? No. Razor might not mean to have given every player half a dozen matchs but he will want to have identified and assured himself that each individual is indeed test quality. So yes, plays like Darry and Lord may still be included in a few squads and used so he’s happy to include them as say 5th and 6th ranked locks, but that doesn’t mean he needs to go to the same level to ensure for himself the 7th and 8th ranked locks.


      He might be happy basing performances off SR Finals, or organizing an AB XV match against a team like France or SA with similar locking depth (even organizing say Warner Dearns to be part of the Japan XV etc), and I’m sure they’re going to have a very large squad over in South Africa for two months.


      I don’t think he is quite in the same predicament as SA to have to rest top stars. And this is obviously just goal setting, they’re supposed to be hard. As you can see by the context around this series, arbitrary targets like everyone getting some minutes are made. That could also simply be how he ensures he has met the 4. So hookers would be ticked, as he’s already used 5 at test level. If you looked at the Baabaas SA game you’d see Beehre performing like an accomplished test player, that already makes 7 locks with more than 2 full seasons to go. You take the point BA was making about Marshalls previous remarks about Razor want players to be able to play 3/4/5 different positions, that would mean if Razor was really happy with Finau at lock last week he already has 8 test quality locks as well, etc, etc.


      TLDR sorry for the big reply, it’s just a goal, the teams not going to suddenly fail if he doesn’t reach it, I think theres many means and many players for him to be comfortable in getting 4 in each position. He’s obviously not going to be able to get 4 proven, hardened test players in each by then, no.

      135 Go to comments
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