While Jake White has been booted out of Loftus Versfeld, his dream of more Springboks moving back to the Bulls is becoming a reality.
On Tuesday, the Bulls announced the return of veteran centre Jan Serfontein and Springbok Marvin Orie to the Pretoria kraal.
Serfontein, who had been on the books of French side Montpellier since 2017, has signed an initial three-year contract with Bulls. The Grey College alumnus made more than 147 appearances since the 2017 season for Montpellier after leaving the Bulls. Before his departure, the Springbok centre earned 48 caps for the Pretoria side, scoring 15 tries from 45 starts.
Serfontein will link up with former teammate – Springbok flyhalf Handre Pollard – who also recently returned to Pretoria after stints with Montpellier and the Leicester Tigers in England.
The Bulls’ pack also got a boost after Orie, who recently played for Perpignan in France, signed a short-term deal to return to Pretoria. Orie had previously earned 10 caps for the club before stints with the Lions (44), Ospreys (7) and Stormers (42).
Other reported incomings for the Bulls include Stormers scrumhalf Paul de Wet and Montpellier-based Springbok lock Nico Janse van Rensburg, while Kurt-Lee Arendse seemed to have changed his mind about a permanent move to Japan following White’s departure.
White left the Bulls after five years in charge after a number of players voiced their unhappiness with White’s comments after their United Rugby Championship final defeat against Leinster.
It was the third URC final the Bulls had lost in the last four years, and White complained in the post-match press conference that the players available to him were not on the same level as Leinster’s.
This led to a player revolt, reportedly led by captain Ruan Nortje and Marcell Coetzee, who took their complaints that they were not happy with his leadership style to management. It was also reported that White and his assistant coaches Chris Rossouw and Andries Bekker had fallen out.
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