Ex-Lions scrum-half Sanele Nohamba has slammed his former employers and coaches following his departure to Japan.
The 26-year-old was granted an early release from his contract at the Johannesburg-based outfit in February this year, opting to take up a deal with the Kwagga Smith-led Blue Revs in Japan.
This came after a tough start to the season for the 2023/24 United Rugby Championship Player of the Season, who had been used sparingly in 2024/25.
He started just twice for the club in his eight appearances until Decembe,r and twice featured off the bench in the Challenge Cup.
Nohamba’s final appearance for the Lions came in mid-January before he was released from his contract to facilitate the move to Japan.
His father’s passing
His continued absence from the starting XV caused a stir in South Africa, with Lions defence coach and World Cup-winning Springboks centre Jacque Fourie explaining that the death of Nohamba’s father contributed to a dip in form.
“We all know the calibre of player Sanele is,” Fourie said in December last year.
“Since his father died, it has been a very difficult time for Sanele and how he has been dealing with it. We all can see the way he has been playing that he is not the Sanele of last season.
“We decide what is best for the team. He did go through a very difficult time and hopefully he can get through that and come out stronger.”
However, Nohamba has refuted those claims and believes that he was not selected because he was attempting to negotiate better contract terms.
“No, it didn’t affect me,” he told Rugby365.
“They told that to the media. I came back from the funeral thinking, ‘When did I play bad?”
When the halfback pressed the coaches for the reason for his lack of game time and what he needed to work on, he was provided with little intel.
“I tried, but there were no straight answers. There was no point asking every week with no straight answers,” he said.
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Lucrative offers abroad
While struggling for game time and being overlooked by the Springboks last year despite his excellent form, Nohamba still had lucrative offers on the table for moves abroad to Japan and Edinburgh.
He states that he wished to remain at the Lions, but the club was not willing to negotiate and when an offer three times better than what the Joburgers were paying him arose, it was too good to turn down.
“I said [to them] you give me XYZ then I will stay for one more year. They said you are asking way too much. Then I said I can do two more years,” he explained.
He added: “But the offer from Japan was three times more. So it made it difficult for me to stay.”
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/sanele-nohamba-hits-out-at-springboks-legends-comments-after-his-dads-passing-and-reveals-mammoth-offer-in-japan
