Springbok scrumhalves Faf de Klerk and Cobus Reinach have been in excellent form recently, and caught the eye during the final round of the English Premiership this past weekend.
The England-based Springbok duo have both been shortlisted for the Premiership Player of the Year Award, and this weekend they showed exactly why they are up for the coveted prize.
Sale finished the season in seventh position on the table, missing out on a place in the semi-finals by a single log point, despite their stirring 46-41 victory over Gloucester in the last round of the regular season on Saturday.
De Klerk produced another outstanding 80-minute shift, which will certainly do no harm to his chances of scooping the Player of the Year gong.
Our final @MorsonGroup #RecruitOfTheRound in the #GallagherPrem is…@fafdeklerk!
It was a thrilling game to end the season on, and Faf was doing Faf things all afternoon?!#SharkTime #FafDeKlerk @UKFast pic.twitter.com/GohddpPxV2
— Sale Sharks? (@SaleSharksRugby) May 20, 2019
Faf de Klerk topped the running metres in the clash against Gloucester making 104 metres, ONE HUNDRED AND FOUR!!
For a scrumhalf ? pic.twitter.com/dAYy1hbrYX
— Ultimate Rugby (@ultimaterugby) May 18, 2019
In the clip below, watch from 10 seconds onwards to see De Klerk’s telling contribution in the lead-up to his teammate Danny Solomona’s try.
“DENNYYY SOLOMONNAAAA ‼️”@SaleSharksRugby picked their last game to BLOW OUR MINDS ?
? @TomCurry98 breaks and offloads✨
? @fafdeklerk just being FAF?
? An acrobatic finish to end all acrobatic finishes from @DennySolomona?♂️Watch, re-watch, then watch again ? pic.twitter.com/qItZNn43cw
— Premiership Rugby (@premrugby) May 19, 2019
Meanwhile, Reinach also continued his purple patch in the Northampton Saints’ match against the Exeter Chiefs. Exeter went on to win the game 40-21, but it made no difference as Reinach and his Saints side did just about enough to book a place in the semi-finals.
Knocked off. Pissed off. Written off. ⏭⏭ PLAYOFFS #wokeupwithasemi ? @redhatphotodotcom pic.twitter.com/fTc6PQicqr
— cobus reinach (@c_reinach) May 19, 2019
Reinach featured for just 45 minutes against Exeter, but yet again played an influential role. He scored a try, made three clean breaks, beat one defender, made two turnovers, completed two offloads and made a whopping 122 running metres.
Cobus Reinach’s 45 minutes v Exeter ?
3️⃣ Clean Breaks
1️⃣ Defender Beaten
2️⃣ Turnovers
2️⃣ Offloads
1️⃣ Crucial Try
1️⃣2️⃣2️⃣ Running Metres#SaffasAbroad pic.twitter.com/keKzDjp3vD— Jared Wright (@jaredwright17) May 20, 2019
Below you can see his try that originated 5m from Northampton’s own tryline. He read the play beautifully and showed off his sheer turn of pace to score against the run of play.
HOW, how does king @c_reinach do it ?♂️❓❓
We’ve learnt 2️⃣ things about @SaintsRugby‘s turbo-charged nine ?
1. He has a sixth sense for an interception ?♂️
2. He’s very VERY fast ???Where does he rank amongst the quickest in the #GallagherPrem? pic.twitter.com/1THaDKoggd
— Premiership Rugby (@premrugby) May 19, 2019
Photo: Getty Images
