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Jean-Luc du Preez gets Springboks call
By Sam Smith
Powerful Sale Sharks forward Jean-Luc du Preez has been re-called to the Springboks squad.
Du Preez joined the national squad in Nelson Mandela Bay on Sunday as additional cover at lock and loose forward as they look to defend their Castle Lager Rugby Championship title in the next few weeks.
Du Preez was a member of the expanded Springbok squad earlier in the season, and he returned to the Sale Sharks after Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber reduced the size of the squad following the South Africa ‘A’ matches during the Castle Lager Lions Series.
With one more Test in Nelson Mandela Bay against Argentina on Saturday and a tour to Australasia looming, Nienaber opted to recall Du Preez, who boasts 13 Test caps.
“We have a physically demanding Castle Lager Rugby Championship campaign ahead, which includes a long tour, and given the strict protocols in place to call up players to Australia due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we opted to draft Jean-Luc into the group sooner rather than later,” said Nienaber.
“He is a seasoned player and understands the demands of playing competitions such as this, and over and above that he is familiar with our structures, so we are looking forward to seeing him back in the mix.”
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Latest Comments
Steve Borthwick appointment was misguided based on two flawed premises.
1. An overblown sense of the quality of the premiership rugby. The gap between the Premiership and Test rugby is enormous
2. England needed an English coach who understood English Rugby and it's traditional strengths.
SB won the premiership and was an England forward and did a great job with the Japanese forwards but neither of those qualify you as a tier 1 test manager.
Maybe Felix Jones and Aled Walter's departures are down to the fact that SB is a details man, which work at club level but at test level you need the manager to manage and let the coaches get on and do what they are employed for.
SB criticism of players is straight out of Eddie Jones playbook but his loyalty to keeping out of form players borne out of his perceived sense of betrayal as a player.
In all it doesn't stack up as the qualities needed to be a modern Test coach /Manager
Go to commentsBut still Australians. Only Australia can help itself seems to be the key message.
Blaming Kiwis is deflecting from the actual problem.
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