SARU want to lure Jaque Fourie back

A move the snapster will no doubt disapprove of much as he and ou maaaikie disapproved of the Attempts to get Fourie Du Preez back.However Meyer of course recognises quality and I am sure he must have been behind this. 

Cape Town - The South African Rugby Union (SARU) wants Jaque Fourie to again be available for Springbok selection.

A top-level source at SARU told the Cape Times that they are in discussions with Fourie's Japanese club, Kobe Steelers, to release him for international duty.

It could be in time for the Boks' Rugby Championship tour to Australasia, but a more realistic date may be the end-of-year tour to Europe.

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"We are still negotiating (with his club for the tour of Australia and New Zealand), but things are a bit relaxed now because the guys are on tour," the source revealed.

"Hopefully he can play on the end-of-year tour."

Fourie, 30, signed a two-year deal with the Steelers last year and said at the time he would not be available to play for the Springboks during his time in Japan. 

But SARU is hoping to lure him back the same way they did with scrumhalf Fourie du Preez, whose Japanese club, Suntory Sungoliath, agreed released him for the home games in the Rugby Championship.

The last of Fourie's 69 Tests came in the 2011 Rugby World Cup quarter-final loss to Australia in Wellington, New Zealan

id be trying to get back jp pieterson if i was going to try and get back any SA player in japan, Boks midfild is well and trully sorted, the outsidebacks are not.

We dont need Fourie back we have Serfontein and JJ. But given a choice, I'd much rather have Fourie back than retain the bog ordinary de Jongh as a centre option. Fourie is twice the player

Agreed Sas the only two overseas based players we should be looking to secure the services of are JP and CJ Stander

Fourie was by far the best we had at the time and his record verifies that. But there is no doubting the fact that JJ has more clout about him.

de Jongh, like Jacobs should never have won a test cap

 Moz we differ on much when it comes to rugby, but I cannot begin to understand how you can prefer Jacobs over Fourie and now de Jongh over JJ.

I really do not understand your anti JJ at 13 who has been a breath of fresh air. While I liked Fourie, this lad has much more going for him.

If I believed your take on him, I'd be witnessing a centre who leaked tackles at will......its simply not the case. His defence has been good all S15 and against the Argies you fail to acknowledge that he was faced with a 3 on 1 situation, but instead have us believe he was the cause of the Argies try, which is simply not the case. 

I seriously do not get how you rate players like Adi and de Jongh, when very few seem to follow your way of thinking. But hell it would be boring if we did agree on all these players.

JJ has 5 tests, 4 starts and 4 tries......I know who I am going to back at 13!!

Well, Moz his break against the Argies was pretty impressive and I doubt Jean would have scored some of those tries as out and out pace resulted in some of them. Jean was a quality 12 in his day and at best solid now, he was never a 13........with JJ he is a wing converted to 13 in the last two years.

JJ with ball in hand brings as much and more than Jean or Habana these days. I expect things to happen when JJ gets the ball, as I do Serfontein.

We will always disagree on Jacobs and de Jongh.......both substandard in my books. Had de Jongh been bigger he would have been a great 13......he has skill and pace, but lacks the vital physicality required for the modern game. There are better young options out there to invest in.

Moz, SA has not seen a 13 like Fourie in many years. JJ may still become that good, he has the ability but Fourie was the best 13 in SA during our time so far.

Lets look at De Jongh - tried many times, never been good. Does not have the ability to be great.

Adi Jacobs - tried many times, was solid and good but not great. Too small.

JJ - so far he is heading in the righ direction which means he is getting better every game. He will settle in and do a good job for SA in my opinion. You dont become great overnight.

Fourie - Size, power, running lines, great defensively. Was an integral part of the Boks winning some silverware around that era. Bust on the scene in a master stroke by Jake to play him and Jean as the centres from fullback and wing respectively, and made De Wet Barry and Marius Joubert look like the pretenders they were. Was years since we had one like him and may be a few years til we have one again. Fourie is a world class 13. Dont judge him on one "slip" against Aussies. For that 1 mistake (if he made one that day. Need to see what you talking about) he has done 100 brilliant things. Dont let one act define a player.

I think thats what you doing with De Jongh. One good try against the Sharks and now you love him. I like De Jongh. I think he adds flair and excitement but he can do that in the Currie Cup which is his level. He has not and is not working in the environment that is test rugby.

JJ may not be the complete player at the moment but he is tracking the right direction so lets give him some time and see how he goes. The fact he is getting better each game proves that he is learning from previous mistakes. Playing opposition like the AB's and Aussies will only help him in fixing his deficiancies on defence as they will target that and try exploit it. I think he will be ready for it!

 I would love to have both Fourie Du Preez and Jacque Fourie back in the team for the AB's at Eden Park but in the bigger picture, will that be beneficial to our up and comers development or just an attempted quick fix?? We must believe in Heyneke's plans now otherwise we will be disappointed every game. Man was it a stupid decision to oust Jake White!!! Still gives me nightmares how that could have been allowed to happen!!

Well BL there's a lot in your post to comment on. Firstly I agree on Jacobs and de Jongh....good, but not great. Juan has actually scored several great tries eg against Wales in 2010, not just the CC winner, but frustratingly plays within tight parameters....he lacks confidence. Adi was very good in the 2008 TN, and YE tour, where scored a great try against the Poms. But again in 2009 as the public clamoured for Fourie, Adi wilted under huge negative press....and he was never a factor again.

Then you comment on Barry and Joubert. I agree on de Wet....a magnificent  tackler, but ordinary on attack. Joubert was a different story, his two tries in Oz in the 2002 TN were fabulous, gassing Latham among others...and corner flagging on his back for the other. And while his hat trick which won the 2004 TN had two easy tries, the third came when he busted Umaga's tackle....seldom done. As for his defence it wasn't quite as rugged as Barry, but decisive. Crucially Joubert had the pace to threaten the outside gap

So we come to Fourie and JJ. I  don't buy the Fourie story....I can't think of one big game he turned, except the second Lions test when he bumped off a concussed O Gara. For the rest there were lots of ordinary tries. And the defence was porous, despite all the arm waving. He almost singlehandedly lost the test against Fiji in the RWC07 quarter, where he got gassed by Delasau on a kick and then beaten by the flyhalf for a try straight from the kickoff. As an attacker he was more of a broken play sniper, just too slow for the outside gap, though he tried quite often. Because of that lone ranger role, he wasn't very good at forging a constructive centre partnership or backing up Jean's breaks.

As for JJ, a finisher rather than a creator, time will tell. He certainly has pace, but more crucially for a centre, acceleration. But there isn't an ounce of creativity in the lad. That makes him easier to defend unless he has open space....which is true of every one of his test tries. Then there is the defence. - But this is all opinion and minority opinion at that, so feel free to tell me I'm full of it.

Oh nnooooooooo ... say it's not so .......

Who's next ... Bakkies, Victor, Danie Roussouw, John Smit ...???

This is becoming absurd.

Meyer has no faith in the young talent we have ... either that or he has no idea what to do with them, how to guide them toward maturity.

Firstly, as good as Jaque Fourie is, I'm still against selecting overseas-based players for the Springboks. If Jaque Fourie wants to be a Springbok again then he should come home and play in the S15 or the Currie Cup.

Secondly, the timing of this attempt to lure Fourie back is very strange. Why didn't we try to keep him in SA when we had no other world-class centres? We needed Fourie two years ago, not now. Now we have Jan Serfontein, Jean De Villiers and JJ Engelbrecht all competing for the centre spots, who needs a 30-something who's been playing Mickey Mouse rugby in Japan?

Finally, the posters on this thread need to understand why Moffie is soiling his frilly pink panties on this issue. You see, many years ago Moffie made an ignorant, biased and uninformed statement to the effect that Jaque Fourie was a very average player who would never successfully make a transition to centre. Being a pompous and childish ass, he's never been able to admit his hilarious blunder despite all the evidence to the contrary and despite Jaque Fourie establishing himself as one of the world's top outside centres. Moffie to this day is still trying to pretend that he was right about Jaque Fourie and everyone else is wrong . . . sometimes to hilarious effect . . . so don't be surprised by his ridiculously stupid and blinkered views on this matter.

 ^^^^^^^'

Say it isn't so Moz? You didnt call our world class outside centre a flop before his time did you?

Major concern for me is how sharp Fourie will be. I have not watched a full Japanese game but I summise it is the intensity of Vodacom cup and not even Currie Cup level??

If so, I feel that Fourie's reactions, like his ageing legs will be slower and we dont need that in this competition. There is no time to sharpen up because it is a reletively short form comp.

I reckon we have missed our boat in regards to Fourie and we need to put it behind us and move forward with the present squad. Serfontein will be the next great hopefully.

All people get old, fact!  Everyday there is a significant change in all of us.  Fourie was probably good at one point in time but time marches on.  the Springboks are probably well stocked with younger (better) faster players.

If there is a case in bringing him back then there is also a case in bringing back Wine-hand...God forbid!

Nee wat!  Let him stay there in the land of the blind where the one-eye is king..

Thank you Beeno, I found that other site it looks cool.

Moz your take on JJ's creativity is wrong, while he is certainly more of a finisher than creator, attributes perfect for a 13, it is through his pace and step that he will create opportunities for those outside him.

He is anything but easy to defend against for one thing he does not do is target players, JJ always targets space through pace and his great feet. His step is up there with Aplon and de Jongh, but he carriers physical punch with that step.

For me he is the best prospect at 13 in the game right now, adds a whole new dimesion to the art with his pace. Its been a while since a player had me out of my seat when he recieves the ball, Serfontein is the same and why they make the perfect pair