Ebersohn off to France?

News 24

Cape Town - French Top 14 side Montpellier are
hunting the services of in-form Cheetahs centre Robert
Ebersohn.

According to the SA Rugby Magazine's website,
Montpellier want the 24-year-old to join them after the completion of this
year's Super Rugby season, which will be just prior to the start of the next
European season.

However, Ebersohn is contracted to the Cheetahs until
November, which means he is scheduled to play the Currie Cup
season.

Montpellier were hoping for an early release, but the Cheetahs
reportedly turned down the request.
 

Ebersohn confirmed the interest from the French club, but admitted he is
reluctant to leave as he wants to fight for higher honours.

"My ultimate
goal is to play for the Springboks, and I have to be based in South Africa to
achieve that," he said.

"Montpellier approached my agent a couple of
weeks ago, and he passed on the news to me. At this stage, there is no way I can
give them a final decision because we're only seven games into the Super Rugby
campaign. I also can't join them at the end of Super Rugby, so I don't know if
that changes things.

"If the Cheetahs do really well this season, that
will encourage me to stay. (Springbok coach) Heyneke Meyer also encouraged me to keep
going. It's well-known that he prefers bigger and more physical players, but he
told me not give up. He said he will consider me if I do well
consistently."

Ebersohn starred at inside centre for the Cheetahs against
the Stormers last weekend, scoring a try in a last-gasp
26-24 win.
 

 The French must just fuck off, excuse my French

Shark, for once I agree with you. The exodus of our youngsters is getting out of hand. There was a report a few weeks back that Elstadt was also on his way to France

Really exceptional - but for once I agree with you two.

to be frank i agree with all the posts. i like your french sharkbok. you should teach me some as wel :P

jokes aside. this is the net result of SARU's and more importantly meyers reckless selection policies. it was bound to happen. the age of the players getting younger and younger that are offered this massive salaries.

it needs to stop and the only thing that is keeping the junior players here is the alure of playing for that amazing bok jersey that has been defiled with all those sponsers plasterd on it. meyers open selection policy of overseas based players like louw and pienaar has send a strong signal that overseas players can go overseas.

NIP IT IN THE BUTT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE SARU...STOP THE ROT BEFORE WE WONT HAVE ANYTHING LEFT. SA'S PLAYERS STOCKS ARE BEING RAPED BY THE NH

the next course of action is for saru to join up with the english and french for a new club comp. then SARU can tap into there wealth and then the bok coach can pick all those overseas based players without the risk of losing to much players through the system. the super rugby comp is amazing to watch but we can complete with overseas money. the rand is way to weak its pure economics

these problems arent new and have been around for while. in NZ the All Blacks jersey is the only thing thst stops the mass exodus of players from playing in the NH & japan>

in a recent interview john kirwan had been trying to secure rene rangers services for the next two years, but ranger pretty much aluuded that it was up to the All Blacks selectors.
at 26 years of age and with a young family to look after, there comes a time where players have just got to cash in considering the limited time they have in the game and the fact that a cruel twist of fate can end players chances just like that.
so i wouldnt begrudge ranger or anyone for cashing in, though i hope ranger stays, cos hes the best 13 in the world at the moment.

interesting comments from ebeherson though,,,
"My ultimate goal is to play for the Springboks, and I have to be based in South Africa to achieve that," he said."

i wasnt aware that pienaar and louw were based in SA??? o_O

Sasuke, Ebersohn knows that his best chance to be selected is if he plays in south Africa. He has not pulled a bok Jersey over his head yet so there is no realistic chance that the coach will look at him if he plays abroad. It will be different if he has played a bunch of tests and there is no one better vavilable locally.

Robert Ebersohn would easily make the Springbok starting XV on his current form. Heyneke better wake up and give Ebersohn some assurances otherwise he'll be lost to us and who could blame him?

Sasuke, agree with you on Rene Ranger being the best #13 in the world right now, just a pity he's listed as an outside back by Foxsport!

Carpet, the issue is not only Meyer, in fact its more down to the provincial coaches that are letting our young players down. We have some quality youngsters being ignored for either experienced players or players that are just not up to scratch. This serves to frustate these youngster into seeking greener pastures. Why would they stick around if they keep getting overlooked for old farts or players they feel they are better than.

At the Stormers, we had stupid Coetzee overlook Quinn Roux all of last season in favour of the aveage de Kock Steenkamp - the consequence being that Roux is now plying his trade in Ireland and looks set to qualify to play for them in the future. With Etzebeth out, how they could have done with the services of Roux who at 125kg would have provided the grunt they are missing.

We now see that Nick Koster is playing for Bath after being ignored by Coetzee over the past few seasons.  What is going to happen to players like JP du Plessis, Swiel, Ruan Botha and Pat Howard, quality youngsters not getting game time at the Stormers. Swiel has already hinted at a move, by making himself unavailable for the Baby Boks.

At the Bulls we had dom Ludeke overlook CJ Stander, probably our most talented young loosie of the past few years. This kid captained our Baby Bok side, but Ludeke chose to bench him in favour of Jaques Potgiter and Dewald Potgieter. How stupid a decision this was and resulted in CJ now playing in Ireland and like Roux, will no doubt qualify to play for them. If Meyer had, had his finger on the pulse, he should have capped CJ last year, even if it was off the bench, thereby securing his services for the future. What is going to happen to all the young stars the Bulls have signed like Dries Swanepoel, Pollard, Frans Venter, Ulrich Beyers, Small-Smith, Jean Cook and Jacques du Plessis when these guys get no S15 game time?

At the Sharks, we have good old Plum ignore the impressive Jandre Marais in favour of the bog ordinary Franco v/d Merwe on loan from the Lions. Now Marais is pissing off to France. His younger brother Peet is an equally talented lock, what are the chances that he follows his brother to France?

Naka, last season had no quality locks, he then woke up to young Carl Wegner at the end of the season, but by then it was too late as he had signed with a French club.

At the Lions, Ettienne Oosthuizen failed to make the Baby Bok squad when he should have and got little game time for the Lions, he is now starting for the Brumbies at lock under Jake. Josh Strauss made a great impression in the past two years but never got the call from Meyer and now he is playing in Scotland.

If Ebersohn does not get a call up this year, he will go, as there is little more he can do to impress Meyer.

The exodus of our quality youngsters is starting to get out of hand. Our national and provincial coaches need to take stock of this and provide our youngsters with security and game time. Its not difficult given some of the average to poor players we see being selected ahead of these youngsters.

And while we have to be realistic in that we cant select all these youngsters, it does not take a brain scientist to work out that Quinn Roux is better than de Kock Steenkamp, that Jandre Marais is better than Franco v/d Merwe, that CJ Stander is better than Jacques Potgieter, that Carl Wegner was better than any of the flanks the Cheetahs selected at lock last year or that Frans Venter is a better investment than old man Wynand Olivier