From Sharksworld:
Du Plessis’s on Jake collision course?
Another round of “Bismarck and Jannie du Plessis are going to France” rumours seems to have fired up this morning, with a respected French publication claiming the brothers have already signed post-World Cup deals with Montpellier.
All plausible so far, apart from one tiny fly in the ointment; the freshly-appointed coach of the South Coast side is none other than one Jacob Westerduin, with whom the brothers have a long, if not altogether happy history.
Westerduin, better known as Jake White in the rugby world, is apparently not the brothers’ favourite coach, with older boet Jannie in particular bearing some hard feelings dating back to White’s tenure as Bok coach. An unhappy 12 months under White as Director of Rugby at the Sharks did little to heal the wounds for either brother.
We all know that these French reports tend to be very premature and often confuse “early negotiation” with “signed contract”. One thing I do know for sure, though, is that neither du Plessis brother will willingly move to a club that features Jake White on its staff, so unless there is already a completely iron-clad contract in place (which would have been negotiated and signed prior to White’s arrival) this one, for me, is a non-starter.
