Earlier this season it was confirmed by the Bulls that they had granted Kurt-Lee Arendse the opportunity to take up a ‘sabbatical’ in Japan with the Mitsubishi Dynaboars.
The flying wing has excelled overseas, but there is no doubt his presence has been missed by the Bulls as northern hemisphere competitions have headed into the business end.
“Kurt-Lee’s probably top of the pops for the Dynaboars in the Japanese league. It’s not good for South African rugby that the best players who make the linebreaks are playing all over the world and not for our franchises,” Bulls coach Jake White said this week as his patience clearly began to run out.
“It’s a very bad thing that you bring a guy to the club, build him and make him who he is and then you don’t have the luxury of having him when you need him the most and at the best time of his career. Unfortunately, that’s going to happen more and more, but I’m never going to say, ah well, let it be.
“We talk a lot about bringing players through, but our job is not to find youngsters and pay their school fees by putting them in big games and then handing them over to other clubs to become rock stars. We’re not in that industry. We’re in a country where rugby is important and winning is important.”
Big twist in situation for Bulls-bound Kurt-Lee Arendse
Just as the Buls coach made these statements, RugbyJP.com reported that the Dynaboars and Arendse will part ways at the end of the regular season.
The Bulls had hoped the Springbok would return to Pretoria in time for the URC playoffs, but White has confirmed that Arendse has missed the cut-off date.
However, it does now seem that the Pretoria-based side will once again be able to call on his services next season despite speculation suggesting he actually wanted to leave Loftus early for a permanent move to Japan.
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Src: TheSouthAfrican.com - https://rugga.co.za/bulls/bulls-coach-blasts-absent-springbok-star/