If you’re not getting game-time, it’s time to move on

The Lions finally this week announced scrumhalf Sanele Nohamba will play for them for the next few years.

It is no surprise the 23-year-old has moved on from the Sharks. The talented No 9 just didn’t take the next step up and didn’t get the backing he may have wanted, and in cases like his it is best to move on.

This week I want to discuss players moving from one union to another when opportunities to play are not forthcoming.

Being given a chance to show what you can do is all every player wants – and it is hugely important. It allows a player to expose himself and be recognised for one’s potential.

Unfortunately, the environment sometimes just isn’t right. A young player can have all the skills and class and talent, but he or she doesn’t fit the team.

I think back to a few others. Former Bulls player Warrick Gelant never reached the highs he is now hitting at the Stormers, while Manie Libbok, too, never settled at the Bulls and Sharks, but now is thriving at the Stormers.

Also, remember all those youngsters who never got a proper chance at the Bulls but made it big at the Lions – Franco Mostert, Courtnall Skosan, Andries Coetzee – and Faf de Klerk who moved from the Pumas, and Warren Whiteley who moved from the Sharks.

The Lions’ very good 2016-2018 Super Rugby team was built around young players who never got a look-in at other unions.

The thing is, coaches believe in some players and not others, and all players want is for a coach to back them and give them a proper chance to showcase what they are worth.

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It’s not as if Libbok was a bad player at the Bulls or the Sharks and has now become a quality No 10. He was always good, but the environment didn’t suit him, and that’s why it was important for him, and others who’ve moved on, to seek a new outfit – just like Nohamba has done.

The same goes for Curwin Bosch; he was a Craven Week superstar, signed up by the Sharks as soon as they could get him, and while he flourished for a while, under a new coaching team, and with different players around him, he has not made the progress he would have liked, or what we would have expected.

It is time for him to also make a move. Bosch hasn’t become a bad player, or poorer player than he was a few years ago; it’s just that for whatever reason his career and growth has stalled.

Of course, as I’ve mentioned here, there is a lot more to this topic than just a player being good enough and not good enough to get regular game time and settle in a team.

Sometimes a player must even consider a backwards move rather than a sideways move to eventually move forward. For example, Nohamba has basically moved from one URC franchise to another, but he could also have moved to the Pumas or Cheetahs – a backwards move.

This is something other players who’re stuck in a rut at one team can definitely consider. At the end of the day it’s regular game-time and being backed that matters most. Hopefully we’ll see the best of Nohamba at the Lions.