Durban - Sbu Nkosi, the problem child of South African rugby, is in hot water again, having been sent home early from the Bulls’ overseas tour for breaking team protocols, according to reports.
It seems that a change of scenery from Durban to Pretoria has not solved the Springbok wing’s inability to stay focused on rugby.
Many believed that Nkosi’s old schoolboy coach at Jeppe, Jake White, could revive a career that stalled at the Sharks when the 26-year-old went walkabout for weeks.
But according to Rapport, White told Nkosi to go home after he missed a team meeting in Ireland in the week of the Munster match.
Apparently, Nkosi had been given permission to visit a friend but then returned home late to the team hotel.
Eyebrows had been raised when Nkosi was not included in the match-day squad for the Bulls’ defeat of Benetton at the weekend, with no reason given by White, but the explanation has now come to light.
Nkosi reportedly apologised to the team but that did not stop White from giving him the red card.
Nkosi joined the Sharks in 2017 and played 64 games for them until they freed him to leave for Pretoria.
While he was variously sick (one of the longest-running cases of gastro known to mankind) and reportedly injured early this year, he was writing music, emerging from the wildness in May to release the rap song Off the Clock under the stage name of Lawd Odin.
As a Springbok, Nkosi certainly knows his way to the tryline and has scored nine tries in his 16 Tests for the Boks.
He has been on the winning side in 11 of those Tests and he played on the right wing in the Boks’ stunning victory over the All Blacks last year on the Gold Coast.
But can the Boks recall him when he seems unable to keep his eye on the ball ….?
@MikeGreenaway67