New faces join HSBC Waratahs pre-season
18/11/2009
New recruit, lock Hendrik Roodt.
Pre-season training has taken on a slightly different look at the HSBC Waratahs this week with some familiar and new faces commencing preparations for the 2010 season.
While the majority of the squad commenced training on Monday 2 November, this week has seen the resumption for NSW centurions Al Baxter and captain Phil Waugh.
New recruit Berrick Barnes has also been working on his rehabilitation in Sydney, however he will soon return to Brisbane to continue his recovery prior to making the big move to the Harbour City in January.
Two of the HSBC Waratahs big off-season signings also commenced this week: marquee player Sosene Anesi and developing foreign player Hendrik Roodt.
Australian Super 14 teams are able to contract a developing foreign player who has yet to represent his native country at Test, Sevens or A-team level and could qualify for the Wallabies after three years of consecutive residency, as per IRB regulations. They are also permitted to sign one 'marquee' foreigner, an international who can never qualify for Australian selection because of an IRB regulation that limits players to one country representation throughout their careers.
Anesi made is NPC debut for Waikato in 2003 and became a regular on the IRB Sevens circuit with New Zealand in 2004. He went on to make his Super 12 debut in 2005 - ironically, against the HSBC Waratahs - and later that year made his Test debut against Fiji at Albany's North Harbour Stadium.
He was then selected in the New Zealand Sevens team for the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, scoring five tries in six matches en route to a Gold Medal.
Anesi's 2007 Rugby World Cup hopes ended in the early stages of the Super 14 when he was sidelined with a neck injury, however he bounced back to play eleven matches for the Chiefs in 2008.
A problematic shoulder saw Anesi miss the middle stages of the 2009 Super 14, however he came back to appear in the Chiefs' last five matches including the semi-final victory over the Hurricanes and the final against the Bulls in Pretoria.
Hailing from Lichtenburg in the North West Province, 200cm lock Roodt represented Leopards at the famous Craven Week tournament in 2004 and 2005 before being selected in the 2005 South African Schools which also featured Bulls flanker Dewald Potgeiter.
Following his Schools career, Roodt went on to represent the Blue Bulls in the Vodacom Cup (2006-2008) and Under 21 Competition (2006-2008). In 2007 Roodt was selected as a member of the Blue Bulls Currie Cup squad at just 19 years of age, going on to form part of the Bulls Super 14 pre-season training squad later that year.
In 2008 Roodt was selected for the victorious Emerging Springboks at the IRB Nations Cup in Bucharest, with the side going through the tournament undefeated with victories over Georgia, Italy A and Romania.
Anesi, Roodt and Barnes were the latest new squad members to join the HSBC Waratahs Super 14 squad with Josh Holmes (Brumbies), Rory Sidey (Newport-Gwent Dragons), Chris Alcock (Gordon), and Ben Coridas (Eastwood/HSBC Junior Waratahs) already in training. HSBC Junior Waratahs recruits including Brendan McKibbin (Reds), Adam D'Arcy (Manly) and Paddy Ryan (Sydney University) have also been training with the Super 14 squad.
Former Auckland, Northland and Leinster forward Cam Jowitt is due to join the squad next week.
