Schalk Brits reveal brutal Stormers rejection ahead of Bulls move : Planet Rugby

Rugby World Cup-winning Springboks hooker Schalk Brits has revealed the brutal treatment he received from the Stormers in 2019.

The much-loved forward left Saracens at the end of the 2017/18 season and returned to South Africa, effectively hanging up his boots in doing so.

However, Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus brought the two-time Champions Cup winner out of retirement to be part of his 2019 World Cup squad.

Brits then had to look for a team in South Africa and hoped to join his old team, the Stormers, but was rejected and told to “find a new place”.

“Are not welcome”

He would go on to sign with the Stormers’ rivals the Bulls and has now revealed how the events unfolded that led to him joining the old enemy.

“Things got ugly with the Stormers when they returned from Saracens. So no one could understand why I went to the Bulls because they were our archenemy,” the Brits said at a URC roundtable.

The British went on to explain the rejection he received from his former employers, as well as the handover of the administration of the Western Province Rugby Football Union.

“After moving with my family and kids to South Africa from Saracens, coming out of retirement and all that sort of stuff, the Stormers didn’t want that anymore,” he explained.

“I was busy at the Springboks camp and then I got a text saying: ‘You’re no longer welcome at the Stormers. Find a new place.’”

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The British received the message when they had just moved to Stellenbosch and explained that they didn’t even have furniture in their house yet.

He would continue to thrive with the Bulls in 2019 and was selected in the Springboks’ Rugby World Cup squad, captaining the team to victory over Namibia before winning his final cap against Canada.

Supporting the bulls

After the fallout with the Stormers, the Brits add that the Western Cape locals are now criticizing him for supporting the Bulls, a team he would never have dreamed of supporting or playing for until the last year of his career.

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He explained that the Bulls were at the bottom of their supporting rotation behind the Stormers and Lions, but that has all changed.

“It’s quite strange. Loyalty goes both ways,” she said.

“So as long as the South African team plays against a foreign team, of course I will support the South African team.

“But I never thought I would wear a Bulls jersey because of the rivalry between the Stormers and the Bulls; I never thought I would ever play for the Bulls, and now all three of my kids have Bulls jerseys on.

“We’re getting a lot of abuse here in Cape Town for being Bulls supporters, but loyalty goes both ways.”

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