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Springboks prop Dreyer heads home to Super Rugby after lacklustre Gloucester spell
By Online Editors
Springboks prop Ruan Dreyer has confirmed a return to the Lions in Johannesburg 13 days after Gloucester announced he would be leaving Kingsholm following the departure of the head coach, fellow South African Johan Ackermann.
Capped four times in 2017, 29-year-old tighthead Dreyer made the move to England the following year. However, his appearances at the Gallagher Premiership club were limited and he is now heading back to his former Super Rugby club to try and revive his fortunes.
In a short video message posted on the Lions' Twitter page, Dreyer said: "I'm really excited to return. Me and my family really missed the Lions.
"We have missed Jo'burg and we really miss spending time at Emirates Airline Park. We are very excited to return back home, just to make you guys proud again, and hopefully we can fill up the stadium quite soon again."
Confirmation that Dreyer has sorted out his future is further confirmation that the South African influence at Gloucester, the 2019 Premiership semi-finalists, is very much on the wane following the untimely exit of Ackermann, especially in the pack.
Locks Franco Mostert and Gerbrandt Grobler, along with hooker Franco Marais, have also all left the club thrown unto turmoil by Ackermann's decision to quit for a stint in the Japanese Top League, a departure soon followed by the exit of David Humphreys, the long-serving director of rugby who had appointed Ackermann in 2017 in succession to Laurie Fisher.
Dreyer appeared in successive Super Rugby finals, losing to the Crusaders in 2017 on a team coached by Ackermann and again in 2018 under Swys du Bruin. His first cap came against France in June 2017 under Allister Coetzee but he didn't get a look in under Rassie Erasmus who guided the Springboks to World Cup glory last November before handing the reins to Jacques Nienaber.
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Latest Comments
But he chose rightly or wrongly to play for Tonga. If he wanted to play for the ABs why didn’t he hold off?
Go to comments“A succession of recent ex-players going straight back into the game as coaches in their early 40’s would prob be enough to kill it stone-dead. Innovation would die a death.”
Would it? I do think one of the major differences between rugby and most other sports - which we’ve been overlooking - is the degree to which players are expected to lead team meetings & analysis sessions and the like. Someone like Owen Farrell has basically been an assistant coach already for ten years - and he’s been so under a variety of different head coaches with different expectations and playing styles.
“The most interesting ppl I have met in the game have all coached well into their sixties and they value the time and opportunity they have had to reflect and therefore innovate in the game. That’s based on their ability to compare and contrast between multiple eras.”
I don’t doubt that that’s true. But having interesting insights doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be the best able to inspire a team, or the best at managing the backroom staff.
“Wayne Smith winning the WWC in his mid sixties three years ago prob means nothing to you but it meant a lot to him. It took him back to the roots of is own coaching journey.”
I don’t doubt that! But I don’t think coaches should be hired on the basis that it means a lot to them.
“The likes of Carlo Ancelotti and Wayne Bennett and Andy Reid all have a tale to tell. You should open your ears and listen to it!”
I agree! Never have I ever suggested otherwise!
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