Chris Jack to play Currie Cup

South African stopover to bypass Air NZ Cup

BY DUNCAN JOHNSTONE IN SOUTH AFRICA

Former Crusaders and All Blacks lock Chris Jack will play in South Africa before he returns to the New Zealand scene.

Jack is taking the long way home after negotiating a new Kiwi deal when his stint with English club Saracens turned sour.

The club has been taken over by South Africans and while he fell out of favour there he has used the South African connections to stitch together a deal that will see him reportedly play the Currie Cup there rather than the Air New Zealand Cup with Canterbury or Tasman.

WP Rugby (Pty) Ltd managing director Rob Wagner confirmed a deal had been negotiated for Jack to be a Western Province player from July 1 until October 31.

Western Province are keen to tap into Jack's vast knowledge sustained from an All Blacks career that brought 67 tests between 2001 and 2007 when he left after the World Cup disaster that year.

"It's very good for us because Chris has a lot of Test and Super 14 experience. He is a very good lock," Wagner told South African media.

"We hope he can perform a similar role as Federico Mendez (former Argentina front-ranker) and Tony Brown (former All Black flyhalf) by helping younger players. We were also looking at it from that angle."

Western Province are looking to increase their depth at lock because they expect to have Andries Bekker on test duties with the Springboks during the Currie Cup and Adriaan Fondse is injured.

Veteran AJ Venter retired after last weekend's Super 14 finished.

"It's wonderful that we are getting Jack," Stormers and WP senior professional coach Rassie Erasmus said.

"We're losing AJ and I think he was a much bigger asset than a lot of people realise. We are replacing him with a quality player and then still have Hilton Lobberts and Martin Muller.

"Jack will not be available for us in next year's Super 14, but we really want to do well in the Currie Cup."

At 30 Jack is still in his prime by tight five standards but he faces a real challenge to reignite his test career.

All Blacks coach Graham Henry said the 2.02m and 115kg Jack would have to prove himself back home to come into consideration again.

That means he will have to force his way into the 2010 Crusaders on the back of playing for a South African provincial team.

Jack is a Crusaders stalwart, having played 89 games for the red and blacks from 1999 and was a key element in their Super Rugby dominance.

His test tally makes him New Zealand's second most-capped lock behind Ian Jones.

The Crusaders have Brad Thorn as their top lock and have rapidly developed Isaac Ross into a highly talented second rower.

But they are losing Ross Filipo to a Japanese contract after this year's Super 14.

- © Fairfax NZ News