Great Scot! Bulls prop torn between SA and his new country

Bulls prop Pierre Schoeman is certainly not the type of person to be misleading anyone, but Edinburgh’s new signing still seems a little unsure over whether he wants to play for Scotland or South Africa.

The 23-year-old, who represented the SA Under-20s in 2014, has signed a three-year contract with Edinburgh, which will start at the end of the current Super Rugby campaign.

Schoeman confirmed at Loftus Versfeld this week that he could be considered a “project player”, being lured to Scotland with a view to playing for their national team in the future.

But with World Rugby having increased the residency qualification from three to five years in 2017, anything could still happen.

“It was just too big an opportunity that came into my path that I could not say no to. I definitely have aspirations to play for Scotland and my understanding is that the SA U20s from 2014 are considered uncapped, it’s just those that played in 2013 and 2015 that are ineligible,” he said.

“There’s still a chance that I will play for SouthAfrica under Rassie Erasmus. I’m sure that if you’re good enough then you will play and then he will make a plan, he’s already started changing the 30-caps process for overseas players. If I’m able to play for the Springboks then I will certainly look at it. My first dream was to play for the Springboks, I aimed for that, but now I’m going 100% for Scotland.”

He is currently firmly focused though on the huge Super Rugby derby match against the Sharks in Durban on Saturday.

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