Jaque Fourie

Ex Superpsort

Springbok midfielder Jaque Fourie may have extended his contract with Japanese club Kobelco Steelers, but he could well be back in a Bok jersey soon after inserting a clause that would make it possible for him to turn out for the Springboks again.

(Bekker please note)

Fourie, who is easily t he in-form player in the Japanese league at the moment, is highly rated by Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer and while it seems unlikely he will feature in the November tour squad, the chances of him turning out again for the Boks is much more likely next year with the clause in his contract.

Fourie is enjoying his time in the Far East, and while he last played for the Springboks in the 2011 Rugby World Cup, the return of the likes of Fourie du Preez has spurred his desire to wear the Green and Gold again.

The midfielder made himself unavailable for the Springboks in 2012, deciding to focus more on his new club, but now has set his sights on playing in a fourth Rugby World Cup in 2015.

"I have signed another two-year contract that will see me through to 2016," Fourie told Kyodo News on Sunday following Kobe's loss to Suntory Sungoliath in the Top League.

"But there is an option that allows me, if selected, to go back and play for my country."

Fourie has discussed a possible return to the Boks with his club.

"I made sure the club was 100 per cent behind my decision and they were very happy to agree," Fourie said.

"So come next year if all goes well I will be playing test-match rugby. The World Cup in 2015 would be my fourth and I set myself a goal of playing in it when I came here. It's a goal I am working towards and I want to be in the best possible condition."

The utility back, who has played fullback, wing and centre in his 69 tests for the Boks, praised the Japanese system for giving him a new lease on his career.

"My goal when I came here was to prolong my career and give myself another two or three seasons," he said. "We play 20 to 25 games a year here not 40. So it's much easier to keep your body fresh as Fourie (du Preez) and George (Smith) proved."

"I aim to be in the best possible condition of my life come 2015."

The Boks will also have JP Pietersen available for the November tour as his clause makes him available for the June and November Tests, but not the Castle Lager Rugby Championship.

 Excellent news. Jaque Fourie has been missed.

Sure Jean would love to see Jaque next to him again and not the revolving door with no vision!

 Thats what a lot of people dont understand. Rugby players (only the best and lucky ones) have about 10 to 12 years to make their fortunes. We have 45 years if we are lucky. These guys do this for their career. THey are training so much that they can not have day jobs like the rest of us. Rugby is professional and a fulltime job.

If you passion is Sales and a small company offers you a Sales job at $150k per year and a big company offers you a sales job at $80k per year. Selling the same thing. Where will you go?

Stop taking it personally and just see that these men need to make rugby their passion and job and just like us, we want to earn as much as we can and if we not happy with what we are earning, we look elsewhere and move on. Like this shit about Jake White. We as human's are always searching for the next best thing. Its life. Dont try understand why or how. Just know that this is what makes us human and what makes life, life!

If there was none of that, there would be no cheating in relationships, no changing jobs, no changing anything. People would just be content and thats never gona be the case.

I have a feeling that the selection of foreign - based players are going to be restricted

by SARU - based on statements made earlier this year by SARU.   I am all for restriction - since the scenario could soon be that the whole team would consist of foreign-based players - like the Brazilian soccer team that lost badly in the Confed Cup recently.

It would further cause flight of players to play for foreign clubs and would be detrimental to local rugby development.   The idea that you can play anywhere and be an automatic choice for Springbok selection is BS - I am all for the AB and Wallaby system in this case and if that was in place a lot of players would not have signed foreign contracts.  

A further problem is that the selection of foreign-based players will entail a team consisting of mostly over 30 year old players and be a short-term solution - not building a squad that could be competitive in the 2015 WC and over a longer term.

 Mike, this is just one of those things that SA rugby will have to face. We can not match the salaries abroad with our weak currency. Whilst players are young, they will stay in SA as these overseas based teams dont know much about them and not willing to splash the cash for a flop.

Once they make the Bok setup or regulars at Super rugby level, then the scouts come knocking so we can take youngsters but its not going to be a long term solution that you may think. Minute they get recognised, the eagle scouts come to pick them off and lure them away with big contracts.

We also have our quota bullshit to thank for player exodus. THe good white guys like CJ Stander know they are not gona get a break with guys like Kolisi and co coming through. Its a matter of time before that Mahoje lock from Cheetahs starts being talked about in Bok circles!

Its a catch 22. We dont want our overseas based players as they are out of touch with Southern Hemisphere rugby but we also cant do without them.

Unfortunately, we need the guys like Habana right now.

boklogic

I have no problem if they select the top players like Habana, Pietersen, Fourie du Preez and Louw to be Springboks - where I have a problem is with the selection of players like Kirchner, Morne, Kruger and Steenkamp.   The latter players are not irreplaceable.

I do not necessarily believe that money is the only attraction - most of the younger players know they have opportunities later in their careers to earn the big bugs - and the bugs get bigger the more experience they have and the bigger their reputation becomes.  They are not paid starvation wags in SA and some of them are really more attracted to being here than anywhere else - especially the wives if they are married.

The main problem is that some of the younger players leave because of rubbish caused by local coaches - eg the case of CJ Stander - who could not get into the Bulls team - because of Donkey Potgieter and Tarzan - the Ape Man Spies.   I do not think the BEE issue  was at play in his case.

Be it as it may - if I was Meyer and not restricted by SARU - I would at present only select 3 players playing for foreign clubs and those will be Habana, Pietersen and Louw.   If a fourth is added I would add Pienaar to the mix, since Fourie du Preez is not available for the EPYT.  

Pietersen has a huge reputation - but he has done very little in Super 15 this year and whether to select him ahead of Le Roux in the starting line-up may be questionable.  We really do not need bench player from foreign clubs.

It may be possible that SARU may start insisting on local selection - because other than Habana, Pietersen and Kirchner - the contracting of local players of colour makes up a small percentage of the total number of SA players contracted by foreign clubs.  However, that is more of a political issue than a rugby issue - so I would not like to state that as a fact.