A round up of what some of South Africa’s leading Sunday papers are saying, including a link between the Vodacom Bulls and an England-based Springbok.
One of the major transfer news stories in Rapport involves the Bulls. According to writers Hendrik Cronje and Brenden Nel, the Pretoria-based franchise has interest in bringing former Cheetahs forward Ashley Johnson back to South Africa. Johnson – who played for the Cheetahs between 2007 and 2012 and earned three Springbok caps – has been playing for Wasps since 2012, where he has made himself a fan favourite. The report states that Bulls director of rugby Jake White would like to recruit the 33-year-old as a senior member of his forwards.
The report also states that White could shake the Bulls coaching staff up with moves for Russel Winter and Joey Mongalo. Winter served as Stormers forwards coach under Robbie Fleck, while Mongalo was in charge of the Lions’ defence under Swys de Bruin and is currently assisting the coaching staff at Wits in the Varsity Cup.
Meanwhile, Cheetahs hooker Joseph Dweba is set for a move to France in information that has been verified by SARubymag.co.za. Dweba is set to join Top 14 side Bordeaux and could move to France as early as June. The 24-year-old is set to take the injured Bongi Mbonambi’s place in the Springbok squad and his move to France will reportedly not impact on his selection for the Test squad.
However, it is not all bad news for the Bloemfontein franchise as the same report has linked them with a move for Kings centre Howard Mnisi.
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