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Bulls high-performance manager jailed in South Africa

Xander Janse van Rensburg /Getty Images

One of the darkest periods in the Bulls’ storied history came to a head, on Friday. It was confirmed that Xander Janse van Rensburg, the former High-Performance Manager of the Bulls, has been found guilty and sentenced to three years in jail.

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This follows after the union had brought criminal charges against him for fraud and theft. The case, which dragged out for the last two years, came to a head in the Pretoria commercial crimes court on Friday – when magistrate Martin van Wyk handed down the sentence.

In a plea deal, Janse van Rensburg pleaded guilty to 13 counts of fraud.

Apart from the three-year prison sentence, effective immediately, there is also an additional five-year sentence – which was suspended for five years.

Janse van Rensburg was also ordered to repay more than ZAR500 000 to the Blue Bulls Company – with ZAR200 000 due to be paid by December 14.

The Blue Bulls Company launched a forensic investigation into Van Rensburg’s activities and then filed the criminal charges.

According to South African media reports Janse van Rensburg demanded – and reportedly receiving – a ZAR60 000 payment from a current BBC employee to be reappointed in his position.

There was also a ZARR1-million tender awarded to a guesthouse that belongs to one of his family members, kickback payments made to players and their agents and paying a schoolboy ZAR1-million to join the union.

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It is also reported that he paid for beverages at his wedding and other personal functions with money from the union’s bank accounts without authorisation.

There were also purchases of equipment – like camera lenses, drones and a stack of clothing from a Japanese company – with BBC money, but none of it was ever in the union’s possession.

– Rugby 365

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J
JW 2 hours ago
Mick Cleary: 'These blokes have done the jersey proud, with their buy-in and with their relish.'

Jesus PR that’s another great conclusion. I can definitely see it as blocker to bringing through new talent in time for the WC. NZ underwent a lot of change in 2018 following the Lions tour, in part thanks to key injuries. Despite the revenue spending Aaron Cruden (getting frail even at his young age then) and Lima Sopoaga (along with Julien Savea), 2 of the 3 1st5s in the Lions squad, both left before the 2019 WC for example. But when we apply your logic, their delayed departure prevented Richie Mounga and Damien McKenzie (the 15 who got injured and threw a spanner in the works) from brought through in what would possible now be considered the preferred WC preparation. Ditto on the win with a scramble of constant change their all the way through to their WC 3rd/4th playoff.


Theres certainly cause to account for certain circumstances eventuating being influenced by a Lions tour. But as both nations here select from domestic players only, theres also cause to put similar emphasis on the contracting model in general, as sometimes you can hold on too long. Ireland has a similar model, talking to another irishman here he suggests it has lead to selecting based on contracts, money being spent on a player centrally contracted. So I would not so much worry about fatigue (in part because some incomplete analysis I had done on all.rugby shows the Irish contingent have low minutes this year) but continuing to select underperforming and aging players. When in a pure context of building for a WC, one would normally want to move on an develop the future.

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