Mapoe’s a Cheetah … for now
19 Mar 2010
Lionel Mapoe will not be allowed to leave the Cheetahs until October 2011.
It was reported in the media on Thursday that there was a contractual dispute between the star wing and the Free State Rugby Union, which linked him with a lucrative move to the Bulls.
The 21-year-old is currently signed on a junior contract, which sees him earn in the range of R200 000 a year. But president Harold Verster said the Cheetahs have offered Mapoe a better deal.
‘This whole story has been blown up by the media,’ Verster told keo.co.za. ‘Last year, Lionel was still playing in the U21 Free State side, which is why he was signed on a junior contract. He then had a great run of form from the latter part of the Currie Cup, we promoted him to the senior team and next thing people are calling him the next Bryan Habana.
‘Now his agent Mike de Haast is trying to find loopholes in his contract so he can leave the Cheetahs for another team like the Bulls. But I can ensure you this won’t happen any time soon.
‘I have spoken to Bulls president Boet Fick, CEO Barend van Graan and high performance manager Ian Schwartz personally and they gave me their word that they will not touch Lionel if he’s committed to us. Lionel’s contract is also legitimate, so there’s no way of him leaving us before October next year.
‘We are currently having negotiations with Mapoe and his representatives. They want more money and we have offered him a much better deal, considering he has been a top performer and we want to keep him longer than 2011. We hope to sort this out with him by Wednesday.’
Mapoe confirmed that he is happy in Bloemfontein but contradicted himself as he didn’t rule out a move to the Bulls.
‘I am happy here with the Cheetahs and I want to play for them,’ Mapoe told this site. ‘But I can’t comment on a move to the Bulls now. Maybe I will talk after the negotiations next week.’
Mapoe also refused to comment on staying at the Cheetahs after October 2011.
Meanwhile, scrumhalf Tewis de Bruyn has been linked with a move to Worcester Warriors after the Super 14.
‘Tewis’s contract with us ends in May, then he will be a free agent,’ said Verster. ‘ We have offered him a contract extension, but we have received no word from him whether he wants to stay in Bloemfontein.
‘We do have some talented young scrumhalves coming through the system if he does leave.’
By Gareth Duncan
445 Comments
Pages: « 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 [8] 9 » Show All
19 Mar 2010, 15:12 pm
Firemans: love to be there…
19 Mar 2010, 15:13 pm
@iori Yagami:
is it buitengracht street…up from that other moffie hang out”fashion cafe”.
@iori Yagami:
yes….that is a “No” on both counts.What is this infatuation capetonians have with genitalia piercing?
Please,please,please…..stay in the closet, especially when on open forum. there may be kids reading this stuff.
imagine your kid comes home and tells you he wants his **** clamped? I’d have a heart attack, you’d probably be proud as punch,ne?
19 Mar 2010, 15:15 pm
@Transformation:
come now, gawds truth!
there’s enough **** jockeys in the area without having to get quota ones in as well. Go to durban.
19 Mar 2010, 15:19 pm
Waht was this barmaid wearing that showed off her piercings?
19 Mar 2010, 15:22 pm
@Dantalian:
She only shows them to you if the tip was big enough…
19 Mar 2010, 15:23 pm
Sorry brig
I thought you were a chick..
Still no harm no foul hey?
19 Mar 2010, 15:24 pm
@WP Till I Die: Or if your ‘tip’ is big enough I guess.
19 Mar 2010, 15:24 pm
Wptid
Otherwise she will just show you the tip…
19 Mar 2010, 15:28 pm
great win by blues….good game….brumbies destroyed there scrum 6 love….but Blues still won….maybe my smit theory is wonky?
great for bulls and stormers….
Cant shake this apprehensive feeling i have about bulls and stormers this weekend.
Hope its just something i ate…
19 Mar 2010, 15:31 pm
Dandy lion
There’s always one that takes it too far..
19 Mar 2010, 15:33 pm
@gunther:
Are you saying she’s a shower, not a grower?
19 Mar 2010, 15:35 pm
@Brigadier Van Zyl: “quota **** jockeys”?
19 Mar 2010, 15:35 pm
@grant10:
Sharks/Boks front row still make their Blues counterparts look like Argentinian veterans.
19 Mar 2010, 15:37 pm
@Black Panther: LOL
Believe me my comment re smit was very tongue in cheek….
It was rather disconcerting seeing the blues front row in turbo reverse overdrive….a mate of mine i was watching with remarked that it brought back memories of the boks front row!
19 Mar 2010, 15:38 pm
@grant10: I’m afraid not, Stormers have been playing well but not one guy in the team are used to winning regularly in S14. Pressure is going to get to them this weekend.
19 Mar 2010, 15:38 pm
@gunther: Gone to far? This is only the tip of the iceberg.
19 Mar 2010, 15:41 pm
@adj nm: 365
Ja….just got this deep apprehension….damn nervous…..
Bulls are a worry to me…leaking trys and need to sort this defence issue quickly.
I have been burned so many times by stormers i just am petrified to get my hopes up…..
I do feel sharks will take it tomorrow though…..
19 Mar 2010, 15:41 pm
I havent seen enough of the guy, so a little tolerance please
but
is Mapoe really good enough to justify the hype ?!
I mean ‘next Habana’ is hardly fair, considering thats comparing him with an Alltime Great, not just a current domestic star player.
Safas seem to fall over themselves in a race to overhype new players, every season its the same. Kiwis to a slightly lesser extent (eg Cruden last year), not immune however. But Ive lost count of how many Brent Russell, Jaco vd Westhuizens, Gaffie du Toits and Nick Kosters there have been over the years.
19 Mar 2010, 15:43 pm
Wptid
Not to put too fine a point on it..,
19 Mar 2010, 15:45 pm
@grant10: @364
now you know I agree on this 1 (obsession) point of yours. However it might pay to always remember, at the back of your mind, that 1 wee shove late at the Tron last year and how it probably saved the lardy butts of an otherwise dominant team from having the Test stolen from underneath them at the death.
Fair dues.
19 Mar 2010, 15:49 pm
@Black Panther: 370
Yeah….what a bloody scrum that was….he should of walked off and retired….could of gone don in a bloody blaze of glory!
Heard an interview with Dan Retief this morning….a leading rugby journalist….wery interesting….he also believes its time that some big decisions are taken…and believes that Smit needs to fully concentrate on competing for the 2 spot.
his words….’lets stop the silliness of Smit at 3′….
19 Mar 2010, 15:50 pm
don is down
19 Mar 2010, 15:50 pm
@wpw: One good CC does not guarantee you a place in the Boks. He needs to excel in the S14 first.
19 Mar 2010, 15:51 pm
@KZN King Shark: 373
Hi King….
best of luck for tomorrow.
sharks by 10.
19 Mar 2010, 15:55 pm
@Black Panther: hey waka…whats with playing hobbs @ 12 & this other boytjie pivot is he better than “butcher” or are they underestimating the tjarks?
19 Mar 2010, 15:55 pm
@grant10:@371
on this you are completely 100% absofarkenlutely spot on correct.
If ever there was a perfectly script-written moment upon which to hand up yer boots and ride off in to the sunset as a Legend, that was it.
Imagine, peoples, if you will. Instead of G10 harping on (and on) from his turbo-reverse soapbox these past 6mths or so, he would have instead been talking about that very scrum and how it enhanced the myth, not detracted from it.
*sigh*
19 Mar 2010, 15:58 pm
@Black Panther: For once I actually agree with you. In the grand scheme of thing Mapoe is a baby. He had a good CC and suddenly he was Habana number 2. Habs has grown into one of the legends of the game. To be hyped up as the next Mapoe he would have to be performing at Habs level if not even better week in week out. I’ve also hardly seen him play so I’m reserving judgement but jeez give the guy a chance to prove himself before you start hyping him up.
19 Mar 2010, 15:59 pm
interesting that, not only were the blues beaten in the scrums, they also lost the lineouts badly. in theory shouldn’t have won the game
19 Mar 2010, 16:01 pm
seems my next crusade may have tio be about the folly of not playing an out and out fetcher ….there is a growing cancer growing towards the Schalk at 6….Juan Smith at 7 and spies at 8 brigade….
This will see a revert back to the dark ages…..
First have to sort out the bok front row probl;ems first though.
Dammit…my work is never done.
19 Mar 2010, 16:03 pm
@charo: 378
Ye….a damn golden beautiful 10 minute patch…..3 tries…all over rover….
Great game!
I had Blues by 8….on superbru
19 Mar 2010, 16:03 pm
@grant10: Can’t see it happening man. This Sharks team is even worse than last week’s! What is the hell is Plum playing at selecting Stefan at wing? What’s his problem with Mvovo, the guy’s got pace to burn but he hasn’t been selected once on tour not even on the bench. Our season is lost, so why not give the young uns a chance? They might just surprise you. Stefan must be feeling so confident and happy having to start at wing at the age of 34!
Sharks management are smoking tik for sure. Beginning to think Plum has a problem selecting black players. Vulindlu and Movo nowhere to be seen and what ever happened to Ndlovu? I thought he was a promising young flanker. Ai yai yai kak to be a Shark right now.
19 Mar 2010, 16:04 pm
Mapoe….damn good youngster….all the attributes…..
one to watch.jpp MUST BE CAREFUL….NEEDS TO START LOOKING OVER HIS SHOULDER.
19 Mar 2010, 16:05 pm
@Transformation:
Oh how I pray for the hasty return of the heady days when the Highlanders ‘underestimated’ anyone !
I like Hobbs, altho any player dumb enough to dance the fandango prior to dotting down (vs Stormers ?) is a complete plonker (hi again KKK !) and not the ‘pro’ that he clearly thinks he is. In my books. WTF are YOU laughing at, Masaga ?!
But I really like what I see in Robinson. He is way, wayyyyyy, off the finished article just yet but he has that wee bit of sp*rkle I like in a FH. I only hope that the Highlanders hierarchy sign him up to a long termer and then ensure he is not over-coached and, instead, encouraged to play his instinctive game. I trust Glenn Moore implicitly on this count (it takes real cojones to discipline yr best 2 players prior to a match at Loftus). The returns from Robinson will probably come too late for 2011 but I see him – on the afforementioned criteria only – being a player in Black thereafter.
Crikey, Im not overhyping now am I ?!? eek ! youve got to forgive a loyal Highlanders fan now’n'then……..small crumbs…..
19 Mar 2010, 16:08 pm
@KZN King Shark: 381
Sharkman….i saw Mvovo at Newlands in a pre season friendly….he was poor ….appeared slow….seriously .
With lambie at 15i can understand the reluctance to expose Mvovo in the same game?
Your scrum will be solid….and the hunger will be there.
Heard Butch may be back in next few weeks….and also heard from a mate in Durbs the Jde villiers talks are heating up as well…
throw in BJ and its back on track…..dont despair my man….things are happening.
19 Mar 2010, 16:08 pm
@grant10: I had Blues too, by bigger margin though but only one in my pool that picked them so happy days. So maybe you shouldn’t be nervous.
Agree Bulls need too sort their defense, they can’t just assume that they will score more without having to up their defence.
As for the Stormers game my heart and a bit of my head says Cheaters but if the Stormers takes it and it was a good game then it all is well for SA ruggas.
Enjoy!
19 Mar 2010, 16:08 pm
@Brigadier Van Zyl:
You done insulting me now?
Got your kicks for the afternoon?
19 Mar 2010, 16:09 pm
@charo: @378
that would be a Sth African theory, then.
Or, more scarily, an English one.
There is more than 1 way to skin a cat, old boy.
19 Mar 2010, 16:09 pm
@grant10: 382 talk is cheap but money buys the whiskey.
19 Mar 2010, 16:11 pm
@grant10: Jean de Villiers going to Sharks?
Sh&t never though he’ll be playing in anything but the hoops.
It’s like imaging Helgard Muller in anything else but white and orange with a tinge of black!
19 Mar 2010, 16:12 pm
@KZN King Shark:
So true.
I have no money, therefore no whiskey.
19 Mar 2010, 16:12 pm
@adj nm: 385
Yeah….i will be there again….havent missed a game all season…including friendlies….enjoying the stormers brand of rugby….
but very wary of a confident cheetahs outfit.
If bussow was playing i wouldnt of slept tonight!
19 Mar 2010, 16:13 pm
@adj nm: 389
Just talking….but it may become a reality.
19 Mar 2010, 16:13 pm
@Black Panther:lmao…you sound like you’re making a case for mapoe to get more money
, thanks for the honest answer, i haven’t seen this kid, will be watching him closely tomorrow…
@KZN King Shark: both mvovo & lambie in the backline is asking for sh*t…
19 Mar 2010, 16:14 pm
That’ll be the foggy farking Friday when I let someone who calls himself Brigadier van Zyl mess me around.
19 Mar 2010, 16:16 pm
@grant10:
Stormers should take it, but I’m glad to hear that the boys still get the butterflies going
19 Mar 2010, 16:17 pm
@Black Panther:
i think i recall a lot of wailing from the kiwis about their **** lineout and how matfield dominated them. line out ball is the best 1st phase you can play off.
and with the rules being enforced this season, possession begets possession – lot fewer turnovers
19 Mar 2010, 16:18 pm
@grant10: You been to the game against Boland at the Cape Town stadium?
What is your thoughts? Should WP rugby move there?
19 Mar 2010, 16:19 pm
@Dawn: anyone who calls themselves Brigadier has a small willy.
19 Mar 2010, 16:19 pm
@charo:
sorry, laws, not rules
19 Mar 2010, 16:23 pm
@adj nm: 397
Yes …i was there.
Great stadium….and being right next to the Vand A waterfront it makes sense , from a locality perspective, to move there. Many will get sentimental about Newlands….i have been watching there since 1976….but big money will talk…i reckon WP And stormers will be there sooner rather than later.
Far better for me personally…i stay in clifton, very close to new Stadium…..
Pages: « 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 [8] 9 » Show All
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.