1
Has Warren Gatland found Wales' next 'foreign player'
By Jan De Koning
Wales head coach Warren Gatland may soon be shopping at Loftus Versfeld to replenish his resources in Cardiff.
According to the Welsh website WalesOnline, Bulls rookie loose forward Cameron Hanekom may be a handy addition to the Welsh stocks.
Gatland, after Wales was knocked out in the quarterfinals of the World Cup in France, has started his planning for the next tournament – in Australia in 2027.
He readily admitted that he needs to ‘renew’ a Welsh team that has heavily relied on established and older players for the past decade.
With his focus on ‘youth’, he has reportedly cast his eyes south to a Welsh-qualified star in South Africa.
“I have long been an advocate of foreign players. I think they are good for the game, especially here in Wales," said Gatland last week. “But I’ve always said we need to get world-class foreign players, and if we need to pay a lot of money for them then we should do that.
One potential option for Gatland resides in Pretoria.
In the opening rounds of the United Rugby Championship, Bulls loose forward Cameron Hanekom – who featured at No.8, but is listed as a flank – was a revelation.
Because he qualifies for Wales through a grandparent, he is now a target for that country.
The 21-year-old was Man of the Match as the Bulls annihilated the Scarlets 63-21 in Pretoria a few weeks ago.
According to the tournament stats, Hanekom made 14 carries for 125 metres against the west Walians – with a total of 35 carries after three rounds.
He also beat more players and made more offloads than any other player in the Round One game – which culminated in two tries for the powerful loose forward.
He has made 18 tackles and conceded just one penalty in three matches.
At 1.98 metres and 107 kilograms, Hanekom certainly has the size to pack a real physical punch.
He is a destructive carrier who is relentless in defence, while he is also effective both at the breakdown and set-piece.
Given Wales’ lack of depth up-front, Hanekom appears to be a player Gatland would look at.
It won’t be easy to get the 21-year-old out of South Africa, as he has two years left on his Bulls contract with an option of a third.
There is also no guarantee he will want to play for Wales, given he is highly thought of in South Africa.
But with the lack of playing numbers in Wales, the Welsh Rugby Union’s Exiles programme will be working hard scouring the globe for quality players to add to the talent pool, and Hanekom will surely be at the top of their list.
Trending on RugbyPass
2
Israel Folau to make rugby return despite mid-week Lions disappointmen
3
Gregor Townsend: It’s the first time since 2000 that we’ve been to NZ
4
England hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie's club future appears done
5
Latest Comments
The only benefit of the draft idea is league competitiveness. There would be absolutely no commercial value in a draft with rugby’s current interest levels.
I wonder what came first in america? I’m assuming it’s commercial aspect just built overtime and was a side effect essentially.
But the idea is not without merit as a goal. The first step towards being able to implement a draft being be creating it’s source of draftees. Where would you have the players come from? NFL uses college, and players of an age around 22 are generally able to step straight into the NFL. Baseball uses School and kids (obviously nowhere near pro level being 3/4 years younger) are sent to minor league clubs for a few years, the equivalent of the Super Rugby academies. I don’t think the latter is possible legally, and probably the most unethical and pointless, so do we create a University scene that builds on and up from the School scene? There is a lot of merit in that and it would tie in much better with our future partners in Japan and America.
Can we used the club scene and dispose of the Super Rugby academies? The benefit of this is that players have no association to their Super side, ie theyre not being drafted elshwere after spending time as a Blues or Chiefs player etc, it removes the negative of investing in a player just to benefit another club. The disadvantage of course is that now the players have nowhere near the quality of coaching and each countries U20s results will suffer (supposedly).
Or are we just doing something really dirty and making a rule that the only players under the age of 22 (that can sign a pro contract..) that a Super side can contract are those that come from the draft? Any player wanting to upgrade from an academy to full contract has to opt into the draft?
Go to commentsUse club rugby.
You’ve got the perfect structure to run your 1A and 1B on a quota of club representation by Province. Have some balance/reward system in place to promote and reward competitiveness/excellence. Say each bracket has 12 teams, each province 3 spots, given the Irish Shield winner once of the bottom ranked provinces spots, so the twelve teams that make up 1A are 4 from Leinster, 3 each from Connacht and Munster, and 2 from Ulster etc. Run the same rule over 1B from the 1A reults/winner/bottom team etc. I’d imagine IRFU would want to keep participation to at least two teams from any one province but if not, and there was reason for more flexibility and competitveness, you can simply have other ways to change the numbers, like caps won by each province for the year prior or something.
Then give those clubs sides much bigger incentive to up their game, say instead of using the Pro sides for the British and Irish Cup you had going, it’s these best club sides that get to represent Ireland. There is plenty of interest in semi pro club cup competitions in europe that Ireland can invest in or drive their own creation of.
Go to comments