South Africa’s hooker Schalk Brits arrives to attend a training session at the Gateshead International Stadium in Gateshead, north east England on September 29, 2015. South Africa will face Scotland in Newcastle on October 3, 2015. AFP PHOTO / LIONEL BONAVENTURE
Brits reveals how the Stormers botched his signing and sent him to Loftus
The Stormers dropped the ball in attempting to sign both Schalk Brits and Corne Fourie when they only had space for one.
South Africa’s hooker Schalk Brits arrives to attend a training session at the Gateshead International Stadium in Gateshead, north east England on September 29, 2015. South Africa will face Scotland in Newcastle on October 3, 2015. AFP PHOTO / LIONEL BONAVENTURE
Springbok hooker Schalk Brits has revealed that an administrative blunder saw his proposed move to the Stormers fall through.
Brits, now 37, would secure a place in the Blue Bulls Super Rugby squad as he seeks to make a push for the Springbok’s 2019 World Cup Squad.
The frontrow forward was a Stormers stalwart for a number of years before he moved to the English Premiership and Saracens and had hoped to return to Cape Town but a lack of communication between Western Province Director of Rugby Gert Smal and WPRFU CEO Paul Zacks scuppered the deal. Zacks negotiated and offered a Brits a deal with the west coast franchise but Smal had already offered a deal to former Lions frontranker Corne Fourie.
The Cape franchise were unable to sign both players and had to tell Brits that he was surplus to requirements.
The All Blacks losing could become a more regular occurrence
Brits didn’t pull his punches when he was unveiled as a Bulls player at a media briefing in Pretoria.
The hooker said: “You know what is nice, is going to a place where you are wanted.
“The Stormers have their problems and I’m happy to be here.
“I’m with a group of players that wants to succeed and with a coaching staff that wants to learn and get better.
“I am at a union that not just wants to compete but wants to win something.
“So from that point of view, if we keep on with the work ethic, discipline and with time, this team can perform to the supporter’s expectations.”
Brits, a veteran of over 280 first class games, brings a wealth of experience to what is a fairly young Bulls squad and he hopes to impart some of what he has learned to his teammates.
He added: “What is nice is that we have a young bunch of players and a group of experienced heads that have been around the block a little bit that can help the younger players exponentially as quickly as they can,” he said of the Bulls squad.
“What I’ve felt in the past what has happened in SA Rugby is that you almost lose your middle-tier of players, and you’ve only got the Springboks and the young guys coming through.
“And the guys who are supposed to pass on the intellectual capital, you lost them to the overseas market.”
The Bulls and Stormers start their 2019 Super Rugby campaign against one another with a clash at Loftus on 16 February.
