Faf gets 21 bars as refs hit mid-40s

FAF de Klerk this week confirmed he will be leaving the Lions at the end of Super Rugby to take up a contract with Sale Sharks in the English Premiership. He made it clear his exclusion from the Bok training groups had little to do with his decision. An intrepid journalist then asked him whether it was the reported “enormous amount” (the three-year contract was rumoured to be worth R21m) that tipped the scales. “It wasn't that much, hey,” came De Klerk’s coy riposte.

WILL Genia and Morné Steyn have become the latest highprofile players to complete the Super Rugby and Challenge Cup double following Stade Francais’s 25-17 victory over Gloucester in the European Challenge Cup final last week. Genia won the Super Rugby title with the Reds in 2011, while Steyn won Super Rugby with the Bulls in 2007, 2009 and 2010. It was a massive triumph for a team that not too long ago was destined for extinction.

STADE prop Heinke van der Merwe now has a Challenge Cup winner's medal to go with the two European Cup medals he won with Leinster Rugby in 2011 and 2012. Interestingly, Stade flanker Jono Ross (remember him from the Bulls?) made an impressive 20 tackles in the final. How the Bulls could have done with just one of those as Malakai Fekitoa delivered the killer blow at Loftus last weekend.

“THE jersey is like a precious jewel to me and you’ve got to keep shining it. To do that you've got to stay hungry and if I'm honest with myself I'd say I'm losing a bit of that absolute hunger and drive that the job demands,” All Blacks assistant coach Wayne Smith told stuff.co.nz on his decision to quit the team after this year’s Rugby Championships. If more people in power were endowed with the amiable Smith’s ethos, the world would be a much better place.

NOT too long ago referees in their mid-40s were sidelined on the premise that they were long in tooth and short of stride. The game is getting faster, rugby bosses reasoned. It is worth noting, however, that the refs most likely to officiate matches at the business end of the 2019 World Cup will be well into their 40s. Nigel Owens will be 47 then, Jérôme Garcès will turn 45 during the tournament, while Romain Poite, Glen Jackson and John Lacey will all turn 43 during the event. Given his relative youth (he’ll be 38) and South Africa’s bleak prospects, Jaco Peyper must really fancy his chances of getting the final.