Rugby World Cup 2011
Fourie to join Japan exodus?
2011-10-11 10:06
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Jaque Fourie (Getty Images)
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Cape Town - Upon their arrival back in South Africa from the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, the Bok squad will be dismantled and go their separate ways.
A number of players have already committed their futures to Europe, while some have opted to play out their contracts at home.
However, there are a few players whose immediate future is not set in stone and are undecided to where their next step lies, one of them being centre, Jaque Fourie.
Fourie is currently contracted to Western Province and was lured to Cape Town by a big money transfer from the Lions at the end of 2009 and WP’s managing director, Rob Wagner confirmed to
Sport24 that Fourie has been approached by a few clubs about his future.
“Jaque let us know immediately that a quite a few Japanese clubs spoke to him,” said Wagner.
“It is always the case that clubs put their feelers out to big players who have not lengthened their contracts for the next season.”
Province are no stranger to the Japanese market as Peter Grant is currently in his second season in Japan at the Kobe Steelers and had an agreement in place with WP at the beginning of this season to return to the Stormers setup once the Japanese season ended.
WP will be hoping to keep one of their most prized assets in Cape Town and if Fourie decides to move to the land of the rising sun, they may need to find a compromise with a similar arrangement to the one they had with Grant.
“Jaque let us know that he does not want to make any decision until he has spoken to us and because he had to focus on the World Cup, we did not want to speak to him on the phone every single day,” insisted Wagner.
Meanwhile, in the aftermath of the joint-worse defence of the Webb Ellis Cup, Western Province coach, Allister Coetzee’s prayers may be answered as they wait on the decision to allow returning Boks to take part in the remainder of the Currie Cup.
“We are still waiting on official word from SARU regarding the Boks’ availability. But I really hope to get Gio Aplon, Jean de Villiers and Juan de Jongh back. Schalk Burger, Jaque Fourie and Bryan Habana have however played a lot of rugby and need a breather.”