Northampton Saints coach Chris Boyd admits he is not sure where Cobus Reinach will play next season after reports emerged that the Bok scrumhalf could seal a move to Montpellier.
Reinach has become a fan favourite at Franklin’s Gardens since his arrival at Saints in 2017. The World Cup-winning scrumhalf made two appearances for the Boks during their victorious campaign, making history by scoring the tournament’s fastest-ever hat-trick of tries against Canada.
The pacy scrumhalf has been heavily linked with a move to Top 14 side Montpellier, with reports suggesting that the French club could table an offer of close to R800,000 per month for the 29-year-old. Other reports suggest that Montpellier could even buy Reinach out of the final year of his current contract, similarly to how the French side acquired former France international Louis Picamoles two years ago.
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According to the Northampton Chronicle & Echo, Boyd is unaware of a similar scenario unfolding in Reinach’s case.
‘All of the boys that are going to be out of contract, I will have discussions with those boys about what they want to do in the next two or three years,’ said the New Zealand-born coach.
‘Cobus is coming nearly to the end of his career, he’s looking for a big, long contract to finish his career and we’ve got some young English guys here who are not bad footballers coming through.’
Boyd added that he certainly values what the former Sharks scrumhalf has brought to the English side, but that the club is still negotiating with Reinach over exactly where his future lies.
‘He has a value and his value is obviously high. We have to make a decision whether the money to spend on Cobus is the right money to spend on the squad or the wrong money to spend on the squad. All of those discussions are pretty open.
‘I just find that being open and honest is the easiest way to deal with it. Where there’s smoke there’s fire, but I don’t think at this stage any deal has been done. We certainly haven’t re-signed Cobus. I’m still talking to him about what the future might look like.’
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