Veteran Bok joins a leap of Leopards
The Leopards may have been relegated to the lower echelons of South African rugby, but they have still managed to attract the services of a World Cup-winning Springbok.
Leopards coach Leon Boshoff confirmed to this website that 33-year-old Bok flyhalf André Pretorius has returned from France and started training with the men from Potchefstroom.
With the country’s premier domestic competition, the Currie Cup, having been reduced to a six-team tournament for 2012, the Leopards and Pumas have both been relegated to the First Division.
However, Pretorius has joined two of his former Lions teammates – Boshoff, now head coach, and his assistant Jorrie Muller – in Potchefstroom.
The only difference is that the Bok No.10 is on the playing roster, while Boshoff and Muller will just be coaching.
“We are very excited about having André here [in Potchefstroom],” Boshoff told this website, when asked about the 2007 World Cup-winning flyhalf’s move from Toulon in France to the lowly Leopards.
Boshoff said the young players in the Leopards set-up will learn a lot from seasoned Boks like Muller (who played six Tests in 2003) and Pretorius (with 31 internationals since his debut in 2002).
Having joined Toulon ahead of last year’s World Cup, Pretorius has since found himself surplus to requirements in France – with the French outfit preferring another World Cup winner in England’s Jonny Wilkinson.
The Leopards coach felt that Pretorius’ move showed there was life after Currie Cup rugby for minnows.
“If any other Springboks feel they need game time, they will always be welcome in Potchefstroom,” Boshoff quipped.
Pretorius could make his Leopards debut against his former Lions teammates in a Vodacom Cup match in March.
* Meanwhile, Boshoff also dismissed the notion that relegation for the First Division, effectively South Africa’s second tier provincial competition, would be the end of the union.
“It is obviously more beneficial to play up there [in the Currie Cup competition], both in terms of sponsors and public interest” the coach said, adding: “But you need a ZAR30-million budget to be competitive there.
“However, it will be beneficial to the younger players who now gets a wonderful opportunity to prove their worth and at the same time learn from veterans like André [Pretorius] and Jorrie [Muller], guys who have been there and know what it is all about.”
He added that they will also have a good look at the forthcoming Varsity Cup competition to help lay a “sound foundation” at the Leopards.
“Off and on the field it is very healthy here at the Leopards, despite the relegation issue,” Boshoff added.
By Jan de Koning
