Sharks draft in Springbok Rob
SA INTERNATIONAL FLY-HALF COMES IN FOR THREE MONTHS
SALE Sharks have drafted in South African fly-half Robert du Preez on a three-month contract to cover for the injured AJ MacGinty.
The Springbok Test international, who plays for the Sharks in his homeland, is set to arrive later this week to link up with the Sale squad.
American international MacGinty has been ruled out for the rest of 2018 after having surgery on his shoulder. The injured first arose while he was on duty with the States in the summer, but Sale had hoped it wouldn’t need an operation.
However, it didn’t recover fully and he was ruled out for 12 weeks earlier this month. It was the second major long-term injury blow to Sale after England winger Marlon Yarde was ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.
Du Preez, 25, was capped by the Springboks in 2017 and has represented the Sharks in Super Rugby and was part of the side that won the Currie Cup on Saturday.
He has had a breakthrough year for the club, displacing Curwin Bosch at fly-half and in March scored 38 points against the Blues at Eden Park in a 63-40 win. He and his brothers - Jean-Luc and Dan – were all named in South Africa’s 43-man squad for the June internationals earlier this year.
Although he has been impressed with young Kieran Wilkinson, who played in last week’s Premiership Cup defeat at Worcester, Sale’s director of rugby Steve Diamond was keen to bring in more experience to the squad in the shape of 6ft 4ins Du Preez. He said: “Rob comes with an outstanding CV and will be a fantastic injury replacement for AJ MacGinty. He arrives at the end of this week for three months.
“I have been very impressed with Kieran Wilkinson, who has done a great job stepping in at 10, but with some important games coming up, Rob will bring more experience to our squad. We look forward to welcoming him to the north west of England.”
Du Preez’s father - also called Robert – is a former Springbok scrum-half who made seven appearances for South Africa in the 1990s. He now coaches his son at the Sharks in their homeland.
Sale have had a difficult start to their Gallagher Premiership campaign and sit second from bottom with just two wins from six. But they have been boosted by the return from suspension of Chris Ashton who scored a hat-trick against Connacht in the European Challenge Cup last week - and South African Faf de Klerk, who missed the start of the season on international duty.