Durban – Four years ago, Sbu Nkosi was a 23-year-old World Cup winner with the world at his feet. Now he is virtually unemployable and it seems that only a miracle will have him back in the green and gold of the Springboks.
On Monday the Bulls announced that the 27-year-old had departed Loftus Versfeld “by mutual consent”. This was less than a year after he left the Sharks under a cloud and the reason he went to the Bulls was to be reunited with his old school coach at Jeppe, Jake White.
The thinking at that time was that if anybody could fix Nkosi after he had gone off the rails in Durban, it would be Jake. They had a bond, they trusted each other, Nkosi said at the time.
But clearly Jake has not been able to wave a magic wand to fix the troubled wing. It is understood that the Stormers are not interested in him and that the Lions feel the same way. That means all four United Rugby Championship teams have shut their door on Nkosi. And with a track record of unreliability, he can forget about overseas clubs.
Who does that leave? The Cheetahs, Pumas, and Griquas? If they do want to take a chance on him, he would have to take one heck of a pay cut.
The other scenario is that Nkosi doesn’t want to play for anyone. It is very possible that his heart is in the game anymore.
When he emerged from his disappearance at the Sharks, it was to release a rap song called “Off the Clock”, under the stage name of Lawd Odin. The video can be found on YouTube.
The Sharks were relieved to show him the door. But a change in geography from Durban to Pretoria has changed nothing as far as his rugby career is concerned.
Nkosi’s time at the Bulls has been turbulent, to say the least. In December, he was reported missing. A nationwide hunt eventually tracked him down to his father’s house in Emalahleni. Nkosi said he had been suffering from depression and anxiety, a result of the pressures of rugby superstardom, he said at the time.
South Africa was sympathetic and the Bulls offered him every possible support available.
Nkosi returned to the Bulls team in February and scored against the Stormers in his first game back. He would score three times in four matches to confirm his rugby talent was undiminished, but soon he wasn’t being picked.
White, perhaps being euphemistic, says Nkosi needs “a change in environment.”
Possibly, but where else in South Africa can he go? And it is not about changing teams. If nothing changes in Nkosi himself, nothing will change.
IOL Sport
