Ken Borland

Whether the Blue Bulls Company houses Sbu Nkosi’s rugby career in future is irrelevant right now, CEO Edgar Rathbone said on Tuesday, because their focus is on making sure the Springbok wing gets the help he needs to solve his personal issues.

Nkosi had been missing from Loftus Versfeld for three weeks, raising fears for his wellbeing and safety, before he was found at his father’s house in Emalahleni (Witbank) on Monday afternoon. Rathbone was among the search party and he had a 40-minute talk with the 26-year-old.

“It was important for me to establish he was okay, safe and unharmed, and to find out where he is at. I was thrilled he was alive but sad to see the state he was in,” Rathbone said on Tuesday.

“We will provide the support he needs, but it’s difficult to put a timeline on his recovery, we need to give him space and get him back to full health. We need to follow the process, for some people it takes one month, for others six months, it depends on the depth they have to go.

“Our goal is to get him back on the rugby field and feeling like the champion he is again. Even if that’s not at the Bulls, it’s our job to get him ready. It’s irrelevant right now whether he plays for the Bulls again or some other team, it’s about Sbu Nkosi the person.

“Our concern is not for Sbu Nkosi the rugby player but for him as a person. He is an employee of the company and being absent without leave for three weeks does have consequences. But at this stage, we’re missing the point if we’re worrying about whether he still has a contract or not,” Rathbone said.

In terms of how the Bulls handled the disappearance of one of their star players, Rathbone said they had to cut their cloth according to the circumstances at the time, but he added “I’m sure mistakes were made along the way, but the player’s reputation also needed to be managed and his safety was a concern as well”.

While both the Bulls and MyPlayers, the players’ organisation to look after their interests, have mental health support measures in place, Rathbone said they would review the overall efficiency of these systems.

The CEO added that he hoped the general public would cotton on to the fact that coarse messaging on social media can lead struggling players into the dumps.

“I would ask everyone to be kind and not to make any remarks that may be harmful to Sbu. If you look at the comments and articles on social media, it’s quite frightening how stones are thrown at people.

“Everyone is going through stuff, no-one is immune to it. I would ask people to have a bit of respect for their fellow human beings.

“Unlike other jobs, our employees win or lose every Saturday and that’s pressure. I know it’s what they signed up for, but if they need help handling it then that support needs to be there,” Rathbone said.

Springbok wing Sbu Nkosi is an adult and clearly able to look after himself, but his three-week absence from Loftus Versfeld and an eerie silence from his cellphone has the Bulls and his agents so worried that he has been reported missing to the police.

The 26-year-old has not reported to training since November 14 and has not responded to messages from the Bulls, nor from his family, including his mother, and agents, Roc Nation.

“We are in direct contact with the Bulls and monitoring the situation,” Roc Nation director Isaac Lugudde told The Citizen on Saturday. “We have also been unsuccessful with a lot of attempts to contact him.

“We are all alarmed and worried, and we just hope that wherever he is, he is safe. Those who know of his whereabouts, please contact us or the Bulls.”

Nkosi was out of action after injuring his rib against the Sharks on October 30, which kept him out of the Springboks’ end-of-year tour as well.

“All I can say is that we hope Sbu is at least keeping safe despite his seclusion,” Edgar Rathbone, the Bulls’ CEO, was quoted as telling local media.

“We’ve been attempting tirelessly to make contact with him, but these efforts have been in vain to date. Everybody is really concerned.”

Since signing for the Bulls in the off-season, Nkosi has already been in disciplinary trouble, being sent on a flight home from Ireland in October after he was late for a team meeting having been given permission to visit a friend in Dublin the day before.

Nkosi has also had problems in the Springbok space, not being industrious enough to renew his passport in time for a Test against Wales last year, despite numerous requests to do so.

While those sort of misdemeanours could be written off as the behaviour of an aero-head, there are now genuine concerns for the well-being of Nkosi, who also has a career as a rapper, having released a song in July called Glock in a Safe.

Wandisile Simelane at centre, wing or fullback? Cornal Hendricks at wing or centre? David Kriel at fullback or centre?

These were the questions Bulls coach Jake White was faced with when he selected his team for their opening United Rugby Championship match against the Lions at Ellis Park on Saturday, and last season’s beaten finalists announced a new-look backline on Friday.

Most interest centred around where Simelane, signed from the Lions during the winter, would fit in, and the talented 24-year-old will debut at fullback. That means an interesting shift to centre for Kriel, who played most of his rugby for the Bulls in the No.15 jersey before White decided he wanted more counter-attacking threat from the back.

“It’s important with the way the game is going and the way I like to coach, for players to be interchangeable,” White said on Friday. “Look at the All Blacks, where Beauden and Jordy Barrett and Richie Mounga run the game in different positions. It’s not about the number on your back.

“Wandisile is a gifted footballer, I believe he was offered a scholarship as a kid by Kaizer Chiefs. He just has that feel for the game, the way he kicks with such good timing.

“And with Lukhanyo Am playing at No.13 for the Springboks and being one of the best in the world, for Wandi to play for the Boks, he needs to be more versatile.

“We swopped the backs around a bit, but they understand each other. We want to change our game a bit and there have been some discussions about what we can add,” White said.

S’bu Nkosi will also make his Bulls debut on the opposite wing to Hendricks, while the other player to pull on the blue jersey for the first time will be eighthman Mihlali Mosi, the 26-year-old who was signed from the Free State Cheetahs.

“Mihlali was a Muir College boy and he also has great feel, great touches, and I was loving his great lines in training. I’m looking forward to him running into some holes on Saturday because he really understands support lines.

“He’s not small either, so he’s also a lineout option at the back, whether catching or lifting. He’s in a pack with a couple of Springboks and hopefully he learns from them and it raises his game,” White said.

The coach said flyhalf Johan Goosen is almost fit to play again, “but we won’t rush things, we want to make sure he is ready, make sure he is mentally comfortable”.

Utility forward Jacques du Plessis, props Simphiwe Matanzima and Lizo Gqoboka, utility back James Verity-Amm and loose forward Muller Uys are the other players with injury concerns.

Bulls: Wandisile Simelane, Cornal Hendricks, Lionel Mapoe, David Kriel, S’bu Nkosi, Chris Smith, Embrose Papier; Mihlali Mosi, Ruan Vermaak, Marcell Coetzee (CAPT), Ruan Nortje, Walt Steenkamp, Mornay Smith, Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp. Replacements – Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Dylan Smith, Francois Klopper, Janko Swanepoel, Marco van Staden; Zak Burger, Morne Steyn, Stedman Gans.

If you are used to some of the Bulls sides of old, you would not believe it but current coach Jake White has prioritised a counter-attacking fullback, which is why he has shifted wing Canan Moodie to No.15, in place of the injured Kurt-Lee Arendse, for their United Rugby Championship clash with Glasgow Warriors at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night.

Arendse, who has shown marvellous ball skills and the ability to regularly ghost past defenders on his way to seven tries in this season’s tournament, fractured his thumb last weekend against Benetton Treviso. White described it on Thursday as a relatively minor injury similar to the one that kept Stormers star Warrick Gelant out for a few weeks.

“Kurt-Lee got injured in the 60^th minute and then after the game he felt his hand was a bit sore after the adrenalin wore off. He came to training on Monday and the hand was a bit bruised,” White explained.

“The scans showed a little hairline fracture at the bottom of the thumb and he had a screw put in which should help the bone heal quicker, hopefully it gets him back on the field sooner.

“It’s an injury like Warrick had, with the associated ligament damage, which could take four-to-six weeks, but hopefully sooner because Kurt-Lee is very important to us.

“The way we attack requires a different kind of fullback to say a David Kriel, Kurt-Lee’s type of fullback has worked well for us. And the competition as a whole has shown that a fullback that can attack from the back works – for example Warrick,” White said.

The well-travelled World Cup winning coach likes the idea of backs who can play in several different positions, and the versatile James Verity-Amm comes in on the right wing to replace Moodie, while former Springbok wing Cornal Hendricks will continue his midfield partnership with Lionel Mapoe, with specialist inside centre Harold Vorster on the bench upon his return from a positive Covid test.

“Canan has run a few times at fullback in training and James can play both fullback and wing. It’s a good opportunity to see how Canan goes at fullback with mature and older wings around him in James and Madosh Tambwe,” White said.

“In the 2003 World Cup, Australia played Latham, Roff, Rogers, Larkham and Burke, who were all fullbacks. If you’re good enough, you should be able to play anywhere.

“It’s just about balancing the combinations, and the number on your back is not important in multi-phase attack. Jonah Lomu played eighthman at school and was one of the greatest wings ever.

“Tiaan Strauss and Morne du Plessis both played fullback and centre before moving into the pack; Danie Craven played in a handful of positions for South Africa. So it’s nothing new.

“It’s the way the game is going now, the more versatile you are the better. To use a chess analogy, having more Queens would be better that having just Pawns that can only play in certain ways,” White said.

Bulls team:Canan Moodie, James Verity-Amm, Lionel Mapoe, Cornal Hendricks, Madosh Tambwe, Morne Steyn, Zak Burger; Elrigh Louw, Arno Botha, Marcell Coetzee (CAPT), Ruan Nortje, Walt Steenkamp, Mornay Smith, Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp. IMPACT-Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Simphiwe Matanzima, Dylan Smith, Janko Swanepoel, Cyle Brink, Embrose Papier, Chris Smith, Harold Vorster.