Jake White has responded to Planet Rugby’s exclusive that the Sharks have signed Bulls prop Simphiwe Matanzima and confirmed that Kurt-Lee Arendse won’t feature again this season.
The Bulls boss states that the ‘horse is bolted’ with Arendse, who is currently plying his trade with the Japanese club, the Mitsubishi DynaBoars, as the Springboks winger will not feature for the club during the United Rugby Championship play-offs.
Arendse’s availability
Arendse joined the DynaBoars on a short-term deal and will leave the Japanese club in the summer, but he is still contracted to the Bulls with an outside opportunity to play for the side again this season.
But White has confirmed that there is little chance of him pulling on the Bulls jersey again this season.
He believes that these kinds of deals are ‘very bad’ for South African rugby after being asked about the lack of Bulls backs featuring at the top of the statistics in the United Rugby Championship, which was not the case last season.
“Those stats have changed because Kurt-Lee is overseas,” White said.
“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. It’s a very bad thing.
“You build a guy and bring him to the club 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.
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“Unfortunately, that’s going to happen more and more, and it’s not something that I’m ever going to say ‘ah well, let it be.’
“It’s very sad that we get to a stage where we talk about bringing players through, but our job is not about finding youngsters, paying their school fees by putting them in big games and then selling them or handing them over to other clubs to become rockstars. We are not in that industry.
“We are in coaching, we are in a country where winning and rugby are important. There is no good in that comment that the stats are different, the player that we had who used to do all those things isn’t here and that’s not through our design.”
On Arendse’s availability, he added: “I think the horse is bolted, there was a cut-off date and he won’t be back to play for us.”
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Matanzima to the Sharks
Before that White addressed the Sharks’ signing of prop Matanzima, who is still contracted to the franchise for two more seasons, according to the Bulls boss.
“You guys know more than me,” he continued.
“I read today that one of my props has signed with another franchise, I didn’t even know that.
“My prop is still under contract for two years. I didn’t realise you could sign a guy when he’s got two years left. If you have two years left, you can’t chat to a player while he’s still under contract.
“I’ve heard the same about Kurt-Lee Arendse and I’m concerned. There doesn’t seem to be a watchdog when it comes to who’s signing who, when they’re going, who’s talking to who, who goes overseas and who can stay.
“Another player signing for another franchise, but all I hear about is salary caps and restrictions and all of that kind of stuff.
“One week, I read Kurt-Lee’s not keen to come back, and he’s got a year-and-a-half left on his deal. And today I read Simphiwe wants to go to the Sharks, and he’s got two years left on his deal. So next year you’re going to tell me, ‘Isn’t it amazing that the stats show your loosehead prop makes less tackles than the one you had last year?’ And probably right because the loosehead prop I had this year has gone to another club.”
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/jake-white-confirms-horse-is-bolted-with-kurt-lee-arendse-and-fumes-over-after-departing-players
