FNB logo will be added to Bok jersey

Johannesburg - Whether the Springboks’ comprehensive 3-0 series win over France had anything to do with it is a moot point, but FNB will join cellular network giant MTN as a second sponsor on the Bok jersey.

The deal, which will run until after the 2019 World Cup, will be announced at Montecasino tomorrow, an official close to proceedings said.

The contract will be worth R20 million a year to SA Rugby until 2020.

Asked to comment, Andy Colquhoun, SA Rugby’s general manager of corporate affairs, was noncommittal: “We’ve got an announcement on Monday, come along and see what it is.”

Coupled with MTN’s R50 million-a-year deal, which was concluded not long before the Boks played their first game against France, to the point that the cellphone network’s logo was hastily put in place the day before the first test, FNB pushes the total of the sponsorship brands on the Bok shirt to R70 million a year.

With Absa said to have left a R90 million hole in the budget with its departure early last year, the amount is still a little short of what the Boks are accustomed to, but it certainly suggests that sponsors again have faith in the Springbok brand.

In fact, SA Rugby expects to make another announcement of an associate sponsor during the week of the Springboks’ first Rugby Championship game of the season against Argentina in Port Elizabeth in two weeks.