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Bulls fans despair at massive player exodus
By Josh Raisey
The Bulls and South African rugby as a whole look set to be hit by a huge player exodus after the World Cup, as a raft of Springboks have announced moves to Europe or Japan.
This is something that is endemic across all South African rugby, but the Bulls have been hit particularly hard in Tuesday with the announcement that Handre Pollard will be joining Top 14 outfit Montpellier and RG Snyman will be joining Japanese outfit Honda Heat.
Those developments have happened alongside rumours that other stars such as Jesse Kriel are expected to leave.
As it stands, this means that South Africa’s likely four locks at the World Cup will be playing abroad after the tournament. Lood de Jager will be moving to Sale, Eben Etzebeth will move to Toulon in France, Snyman is going to the Far East, and Franco Mostert is already playing for Gloucester.
The loosening of the Springboks caps ruling has meant that players can play elsewhere and still play for their country for the first time. With clubs in France and Japan able to offer more money than both club and country can together in South Africa, it is no surprise that there is this mass exodus.
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However, Bulls supporters have reacted angrily to this news on Twitter, as they fear the three-time Super Rugby champions will no longer be able to compete at the highest level. This is what the fans have said:
While former Springboks Morne Steyn will return to the Bulls, this will not please many fans, as they would clearly want to keep hold of a player in his prime like Pollard rather than a 34-year-old. However, the South African clubs seem fairly powerless in this and the exchange rate does not currently help them.
The Bulls are not the only side that are suffering, though, as every club looks set to lose a raft of players at the end of the year. Snyman and Pollard are not the first and will not be the last players to move abroad.
WATCH: Jim Hamilton's Rugby Explorer documentary on South Africa
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Latest Comments
Were you shocked by Sexton trying to rip Barrett's head off when he scored that final try in that return game?
Sexton once again the beneficiary of incredible double standards. Some of the rules simply didn't apply to him. The referee even watched that replay about 5 times in slow motion to see if he grounded the ball. If an NZ player had made that tackle it would have been a yellow card.
Ireland led by Sexton were the biggest bunch of whingers to ever play the game. NZ's dislike of Ireland was not caused by losing to them, it was caused by the Irish players, commentators and media being such giant crybabies.
I genuinely think Ireland are the best team in the world, and I think they will beat the ABs on Friday, but they are by some distance the team I like the least, and I know many people, not just from NZ, who feel the same.
Go to commentsThanks for the analysis Nick, thought provoking as usual. Couple of queries though, in the pic where you've circled Williams bind , I'm pretty sure it shows Stuart's knee on the ground, surely that's a NZ penalty? Also having had the chance to watch it again the All Black scrum seeems to improve after halftime, but before either England or the All Blacks replace their props. Not sure if that was the result of Tuipolutu coming on or some halftime tips. Either way this is only Williams second international season, so he'll be better for the experience.
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