Not lying down Lions keeping up fight over lock’s Gloucester move

THE Lions and South Africa Rugby are refusing to lie down in the dispute over Franco Mostert’s move to Gloucester.

The Springboks lock made his debut for the Cherry and Whites on Saturday, coming on for the final eight minutes of their 36-16 win over Worcester Warriors in the Premiership.

Gloucester received international clearance for Mostert last week after the Lions and SA Rugby complained to World Rugby about ‘irregular player movement.’

It looked like the saga was over as the global governing body found that Gloucester had not broken any rules but according to reports in South Africa, the Lions have sent a strong request asking to World Rugby to reconsider their decision.

They are allegedly unhappy that Gloucester announced Mostert would be joining them while he was still under contract with the Lions and reportedly wanted a transfer fee to let him go.

The signing was announced in May and Mostert’s contract with Gloucester started on November 1 - after he finished his duties with the Lions in the Super Rugby season and Currie Cup.

It is commonplace for future transfers to be announced while a player is still under contract elsewhere Gloucester confirmed the signing of Ruan Dreyer from the Lions on the same day - although there are limitations on when negotiations can take place.

Gloucester head coach Johan Ackermann has questioned the manner in which the Lions have fought to keep hold of Mostert.

Ackermann left the Lions in 2017 to become Gloucester head coach with his son Ruan Ackermann, Dreyer and Jaco Kriel following him.

Asked if he would fight to keep Mostert if he was in the Lions’ position, Ackermann said: “I’m surprised that they did it because why didn’t they do the fight for Jaco Kriel and Ruan Dreyer or Faf de Klerk or any other player that left them in the last two seasons?

“I’m surprised more because I thought every player and every person has got free will to choose where he wants to go so.

“If I sign a contract and it ends on a certain date or time, surely I can make a decision on my future forward.

“Regardless of when that contract was decided, the view is that person made a conscious decision, my next chapter in my life is with X, Y and Z.

“If I’m a lawyer working for a firm and I’ve got a contract and that contract date finishes and another company comes and I feel that’s a career move and I’m going to move, I don’t break legal stuff, I follow my heart and I go when that contract starts on a certain date and time.

“You’d fight in the sense of I’ll get the player in, I’ll speak to him from a coaching point of view, I’ll say to him ‘listen, do you think it’s the right move?’ What can we do, can we give you a better deal? Can we give your wife flowers?!

“But if the player made a decision surely

I’m not going to run to other authorities to help me.

“You want the players there in heart and mind.”

Ackermann insists the long-running saga has not been a distraction for his squad.

He said: “I think it would have been a different scenario if he had been here for a month or two and training but can’t play but he just physically joined us.

“The boys knew about him but never thought about him until he’s here.”

Gloucester chief executive Stephen Vaughan added: “He was training with us at the start of the week and we wouldn’t do that if we didn’t think we were going to get the registration but we didn’t know when it was going to be.

“We’ve got his registration now, so as far as Franco playing for Gloucester it’s all done.”

Gloucester had always insisted that they had done nothing wrong and Vaughan is pleased that it has been resolved.

He said: “We just wanted him to work and get paid, it wasn’t much more complicated than that.

“We had to go through the correct channels and protocols as the club (the Lions) were holding onto his registration.

“I think they call it restraint of trade when you try to stop someone earning a living and he was no longer an employee of their organisation.

“We worked closely with the RFU, who have been fantastic, to make sure we’ve got the player signed to work for us.

“His contract finished with the Lions prior to it starting with us so it was pretty straight forward.”

Why didn’t they do the fight for Jaco Kriel and Ruan Dreyer or Faf de Klerk or any other player that left them in the last two seasons? Johan Ackermann