Bulls hold on to young Bok trio
Three young Springboks, centre Jan Serfontein, flyhalf Handre Pollard and prop Marcel van der Merwe have extended their contracts with the Bulls.
Serfontein and Pollard, who both featured in the 2012 Junior World Championship-winning Junior Springboks side and combined for the senior national side against Scotland last week have both committed to the Pretoria franchsie until 2016 whilst Van Der Merwe has signed on for another two years.
Van der Merwe made his international debut for the Springboks against Scotland last weekend and according to the Manager: High Performance at the Blue Bulls Company , Xander Janse van Rensburg, a true reflection of the abilities of the prop.
"Marcel has a long and promising career on the highest level ahead of him and we are pretty pleased that he will be playing that in a Bulls and Blue Bulls jersey," he said.
Pollard started in his debut test match as well, a week after being named IRB Junior Player of the Year in New Zealand. Pollard captained the Junior Springboks at the Junior World Championship in New Zealand and also become the top points' scorer of all time in the JWC competition at the event, where South Africa lost to England in the final.
Serfontein, also an IRB Junior Player of the Year winner in 2012, started at centre in the recent June Tests against Wales and Scotland.
He made his Test debut in 2013 as a 20-year-old and has played in 12 Tests, scoring one try.
"Jan and Handrè have all the attributes to become legendary Springboks and there is little doubt that they will be very influential players for the Bulls and Blue Bulls for many years to come," Janse van Rensburg said.
"Both committed to the Bulls as school boys already and it is fantastic to know they want to stay on, share and contribute to our vision of being the top team in the Super Rugby and Currie Cup competitions. Their loyalty and commitment to the Bulls are a fine example to others."
Janse van Rensburg also confirmed a number of players that confirmed or extended their contracts, amongst them a big group of 2014 Junior Springboks.
"The Under-20's impressed everyone with their performances in New Zealand this year and it is great to see how many of the stars in that team have committed themselves to continue their careers with us.
The following players confirmed and extended their contracts:
Bulls: Marcel van der Merwe (2016), Handre Pollard (2017), Jan Serfontein (2017).
Blue Bulls: Neethling Fouche (2016), Clyde Davids (2017), Burger Odendaal (2016), Kefentse Mahlo (2015), Jade Stighling (2015)
2014 Junior Springboks: Corniel Els (2016), Dayan van der Westhuizen (2015), Abongile Nonkontwana (2015), Nqoba Mxoli (2015), Nicholaas Janse van Rensburg (2016), JP Smith (2015), Warrick Gelant (2016), Jesse Kriel (2015), Daniel Kriel (2015), Pierre Schoeman (2016), Arno van Wyk (2015).
