mst
Peter Johnson (47)
Why are they re-signing him? We obviously need to unearth some 5/8 talent to back up Foley and to step in when he is finished. With one of the franchises about to be canned and Lealifano back on deck for 2018 surely they could give that contract to a youngster?
Now this goes back to the question are the Super Rugby franchise there to service Aussie rugby or win for themselves? The old schools will tend to say the former, for country but most of those are from the bigger and topped up franchises.
If Aussie rugby was structured in a centralised pro-Aussie regime I would agree and we wouldn't have good viable prospects siting on the beach at other franchises.
But in this case no. His 2 year deal puts him on the fringe to qualify for Australia. and TBH Lilo still needs to be managed for a period. He is a good option that's been in the Brumbies system for a year and provides a few contacting options including heading towards qualification for Australia or cutting him is necessary without to much "obligation" being he can return home.
We are still in the dark about Jooste but suspect there is something up (dud or injured) or its just the usual issue with Aussie coaching to hold back players unlike everywhere else on the planet.
This argument was run and done when the Tahs signed Potgiter and Pat Sio and the like were overlooked and went O/S. Due to the current lack of 10's at least give some credibility to signing foreign 10's.