Chiefs player Nankivell denied entry into South Africa

Chiefs midfielder Alex Nankivell has had to fly home from the South African border after being denied entry owing to a ‘‘clerical error’’.

Chiefs coach Dave Rennie said Nankivell got a different date on his visa in his passport than the rest of the squad that had travelled to play the Super Rugby playoff match against the Stormers in Cape Town yesterday.

Nankivell’s visa was dated to expire on 31/06/2017, with the rest stamped for 31/08/2017.

‘‘[It was] a clerical error from Wellington and there was absolutely no flexibility from the South African border and they said he had to be sent back to the port that he came from which was Sydney,’’ Rennie said.

The Chiefs travelled via Sydney and Nankivell had to head home again, and was replaced by Chase Tiatia.

‘‘We were hoping to be able to sort it from there but he had to go back to Wellington to have the passport amended.’’

By the time his passport had been amended, Nankivell had been travelling for around 50 hours and the call was made to have him stay in New Zealand.

‘‘We deemed that he’s not well enough to travel and then perform over here,’’ Rennie said.

‘‘We sent Alex down to Wellington to get it sorted when we he got home because there’s a chance we’ll come back to Johannesburg in a couple of weeks time and he’ll be available.

‘‘He’d have loved to come back, but we know the effects it has on the body travelling over here once.

‘‘He’s been asked to travel all the way home, then fly to Wellington and jump on a plane and come back. It’s not fair on him and it’s no good for the team.’’

As frustrated with the situation as he was, Rennie said he ‘‘wasn’t going to apportion blame’’ on whose responsibility it was to ensure the players had valid visas for the right period of time.

‘‘We’ve filled in the paper work, we’ve been issued a visa and the expectation is that those in Wellington have done their job properly and we’ve fulfilled our parts.

‘‘It’s the biggest weekend of our season so far. That’s where we want the attention.’’