Former Blitzboks star JC Pretorius has discovered the going robust since switching his allegiances from Sevens to the 15s sport in direction of the finish of final yr.
Pretorius was snapped up by the Lions in December and though he has already performed a few video games for them, he has not been in a position to make a right away influence.
With the Currie Cup now having kicked off it could possibly be the excellent platform for Pretorius to get used to taking part in 15s once more and construct himself again up to being obtainable for the Lions’ URC staff, though Lions Currie Cup coach Mziwakhe Nkosi admitted that he wasn’t absolutely able to play but.
Front row to free ahead
“JC Pretorius is not available. He is in the last stage of his reintegration into 15s. It has been quite a change for him to go from Sevens into 15s. We have probably been guilty of blooding him too early,” mentioned Nkosi forward of the Lions’ first sport which they misplaced to Western Province.
“So to be truthful to him and to provide him a good shot, we’ve got taken a choice to provide him an excellent reintegration into 15s and that’s going very well. We have simply come from an appraisal on how he has been reintegrating.
“Being a front row in Sevens and being a loose forward in 15s, there is a significant difference between the two.”
With the current struggles of the Blitzboks in their Sevens collection tour of North America the place they have been comprehensively outplayed by groups they normally wouldn’t break a sweat in beating, there have been requires gamers comparable to Pretorius and Rosko Specman (Griquas) to be made obtainable for the staff.
Request to affix Blitzboks
However, Nkosi claimed that was still a choice that needed to be made by the Lions teaching group and they’d do what’s greatest for the participant (Pretorius) going ahead.
“That it is up for consideration. But we have to be aware of what is best for his interests. That decision will probably be taken soon,” mentioned Nkosi.
“I haven’t formally seen that there was one other request. I do know there was a request for Canada, however he had simply made the transition to 15s, in order that was a bit tough. We had put him in a few hit outs simply to see the place he’s at.
“So that made it tough for him to affix them in Canada. I heard Sandile Ngcobo talk about a request that was constituted of SA Rugby. But formally I haven’t seen it and I haven’t mentioned it with Ivan (van Rooyen) or Rudolf (Straeuli). So whether it is official we are going to clearly think about and talk about it.
“They are a national team and we will look to help them out. But for JC himself, the last 15s game he played was against the Lions U21, and he hasn’t played Sevens in a long time. So he hasn’t had the fortune of guys like Seabelo Senatla and Rosko Specman who bounced between the two.”
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