Cape Town - Wasps director of rugby Dai Young says there is no bad blood with fullback Willie le Roux or Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus.
Le Roux's playing time for Wasps this season has been limited because of his involvement with the Springboks in their Rugby Championship campaign.
Young admits that he expected to have Le Roux available for at least some of the Rugby Championship, but instead the 29-year-old started all six fixtures in the tournament.
In the process, Le Roux has cemented his place as South Africa's first-choice fullback and he will wear the No 15 jersey at next year's World Cup in Japan.
It would have been a frustrating time for Young and the Wasps management, especially given the fact that Le Roux is in his last year with the club.
"I want to make it clear that no one broke any trust or created any animosity. We didn’t know how many games he was going to play and the situation was something we had not planned for.," Young told Rugby Pass in an exclusive interview.
"Rassie wasn’t going to be ringing me up and saying 'this is my team for next week' and why should he, which meant there was an unknown factor and Willie didn’t know if he would be involved for two, four or six games.
"We had no real direct contact with South Africa and it was through the player. The reality of it is that Willie thought his international career was over but there was a change of regime and Rassie made it clear he wanted him back in. That was something we hadn’t accounted for because we didn’t expect him to be playing in the Rugby Championship or involved in the November tour by the Springboks.
"There hasn’t been a break down between Wasps, the player or South Africa and there isn’t any bad feeling."
Young added that he would be sitting down with Le Roux to discuss the player's club future beyong the World Cup.
by Sports24
Still no word about his availability for the EOYT. One would presume Rassie will play Willemse at fullback in the event that Willie is unavailable.
