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Centre who was banned for 13 weeks for 'foul' act exits Cheetahs for Brive
By Online Editors
The Cheetahs have lost one of their best players.
French club Brive confirmed that they have signed centre Nico Lee, 25, from the Bloemfontein side.
Born in Pretoria, Lee came up through the ranks at the Cheetahs. He started in 2014 in the Vodacom Cup side before being promoted to the Currie Cup and Super Rugby sides.
In 2017, he was part of the Cheetahs team that joined Pro14 tournament.
Lee scored nine tries over the last two seasons of Pro14, scoring a hat-trick in an away game against the Southern Kings.
“Nico is a very physical centre. He will strengthen our backline for the next two seasons,” said Brive coach Jeremy Davidson.
A panel at the time said: "The Player’s actions are an act of foul play. They have no place in the game. This is not a case of over-exuberance, or an act which is within the rules of the game going awry. It follows that by its nature this act is one that is deserving of punishment. It is contrary to the spirit of sport.”
It was accepted that: “The effect on the victim player was understandably serious. There is no expectation, and there ought never be an expectation, that an opposing player would clear the contents of their nose onto an opponent.”
“It is difficult to imagine how an act of foul play of this sort could be worse, save for repeated acts or where actual injury is caused.”
Meanwhile, Mitch Lees is to leave Exeter Chiefs and will also be joining Brive ahead of the new 2019/20 season.
The 30-year-old Australian departs having spent the past five years at Sandy Park, where he has amassed 113 appearances, scoring eight tries in the process.
Brought to the club during in 2014 from London Welsh, Lees quickly established himself as a prominent figure in the Chiefs pack.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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