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The Springboks, already winners of the last two World Cups, will aim for a new consecration in 2027 in Australia.
The affair moves New Zealand, where rugby has occupied a preponderant place for several days. Mark Tele’a, 28 years old and star player of the legendary all-Blacks selection, will leave his clubland blues club at the end of the season to sign in a Japanese club.
After careful thinking, I decided to play Japan next year. Thank you to the players, the coaches, the administrators and the supporters for making in recent years so special for me. […] But let’s move on to another chapter “he wrote on his Instagram account.
Mark Tele’a is considered by some as one of the best wingers in the world. But why does his departure strike the rugby fans and observers, who see it as a disenchantment here for the prestigious national selection, three times the winner of the World Cup? Because this departure also amounts to making a cross on the All-Blacks. Indeed, to be selected, a player must evolve in New Zealand. A passage abroad, even temporary, ends any selection.
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During the hours which followed the announcement of Mark Tele’a on social networks, Monday April 14, another thrill traveled the New Zealanders, already marked: was the winger, not only to leave the Blacks, but dispute the next World Cup (2027, Australia) under the colors of … South Africa!
Indeed, if the player was born in Auckland, his father is of South African nationality. This, depending on the rules of World Rugby, may be enough to pretend to one day wear the Springboks jersey. The arrival of Tele’a among the “Sud-Af ‘”? A sacred reinforcement in order to win a third title in a row …
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But it will not be. Indeed, a few days old – and if he had wished – Mark Tele’a will not participate in the next World Cup with the Springboks. In 2022, new rules on the change in national selections were validated by World Rugby. Among them, the establishment of a “stand-down” period: a player should not have been selected with his First Nation for at least 3 years (36 months).
However, Mark Tele’a experienced his latest selection with the Blacks on November 23, 2024, and would therefore be eligible for the Springboks (or the Samoa, country of birth of his mother) on November 23, 2027. However, the World Cup is scheduled in Australia from October 1 to November 13 …
It could even be that Tele’a found a way to leave Japan as the World Cup approaches, to Reventri in the hollow of a New Zealand club and honor the big meeting with the All-Blacks.
