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Exeter Chiefs lure Springbok Joseph Dweba away from Stormers
By Neil Fissler
Exeter Chiefs have won the race to lure Springbok hooker Joseph Dweba to Sandy Park next season after his contract talks with United Rugby Championship side the Stormers ended without reaching an agreement.
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Dweba, 29, rejected a £300,000 move to Sale Sharks last summer to see out the rest of his Cape Town contract before being linked with moves to Japan and France but has agreed a deal with the Chiefs.
RugbyPass sources in South Africa have revealed that Rob Baxter has snatched Dweba for significantly cheaper than he would have cost his Premiership rivals if they had been successful with their bid to sign him in the summer.
Dweba has scored three tries in 10 games for the Stormers, who are tenth in the 16-team URC table this season. He cut his teeth with a 38-game, 14-try stint with the Cheetahs before moving to Bordeaux in France.
He has been signed to replace Dan Frost, who is set to join Premiership leaders Bath next season, and will be the second big name signing that the Chiefs have made this season after Wallaby back row Tom Hooper.
The Chiefs also have Jack Innard and club servant and skipper Jack Yeandle in the final six months of their deals, with their futures remaining uncertain.
Dweba will be the third departure from John Dobson’s side after scrum-half Herschel Jantjies moved to French side Bayonne and winger Ben Loader decided to call time on his Souther Hemisphere career at sign for Gloucester.
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He will join his former Stormers team-mate Kwenzo Blose in Devon after the loosehead was recruited last summer when the Chiefs lost Nika Abuladze.
Dweba, who has won six Springboks caps, has been out of favour with Rassie Erasmus since appearing in a World Cup warm-up game against Argentina in August 2022.
But at the end of last week, he was named in a 56-man squad that is set to attend the first Springbok alignment camp of 2025 in Cape Town next month.
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Dweba is such a bruising ball carrier, and a maul beast. If only he could sort out his line-out, he’d be a Springbok again.
The Chiefs are clearly rolling a dice here, hoping they’d be able to fix what no one else could.
If they manage, it’s a steal.
Well all I can hope for Exeter is that he’s finally learnt how to throw in at the lineouts. That's why Rassie dropped him from the Boks he was so kak.
Surely as the URC is the superior comp the Stormers discarded him. Prem rugby propaganda.