Francois Louw to replace Luke Watson at flank for Bath Rugby Club
Francois Louw has signed a deal to join the Bath Rugby Club to play in the English Premiership. Bath Rugby is currently at 6th position in the Aviva Premiership with 53 points. They have won 11 out of 20 games played up till now, this season.
Francois Louw has played as a flank for the Stormers and Springboks. The South African Rugby Union (SARU) has announced him in their initial Rugby World Cup Squad. Therefore, Louw joining Bath depends on his selection in the Springboks final World Cup squad
with the final announcement expected in June.
If Louw becomes part of the Springboks Rugby World Cup team, he will join the Bath at the end of the Rugby World Cup 2011. On the contrary, if excluded from the Springboks world cup campaign, he will join the Bath Rugby Club in September 2011.
The 25-year-old will replace fellow South African player, Luke Watson. The Springbok international joined Bath Rugby in November 2009 and was appointed as the captain of the English club before the beginning of the 2010/11 season.
Luke displays exceptional leadership skills while leading the team on the field and sets a role model for others to follow in order to change the way Bath plays. The 27-year-old will join the Port Elizabeth based Eastern Province Kings club. Luke Watson
has termed his decision to leave Bath as the hardest decision he had made in his life.
Francois Louw is currently playing for the Stormers and has so far made 35 appearances for the South African Conference’s team. In 35 outings, he has scored 15 points including a try during a Super 14 Final against the Bulls.
Besides Luke Watson, Bath Rugby’s will also be missing the services of their fly half butch, James. James is leaving Bath to join the Loins and the switch is expected to be finalized within a month.
Bath Rugby’s coach, Brad Davis, has hinted the All Blacks’ star fly half, Dan Carter, as a possible replacement for James. Brad Davis has confirmed the news that they are in contact with the All Blacks’ star and said, "We're definitely well down the track
and hopefully we can have some concrete news in the next few weeks".
Bath Rugby will be playing their last two games of the Aviva Premiership 2010/11 in the next 10 days and they have an outside chance to make it to the play offs of the Aviva Premiership, provided that Bath wins their remaining games against the Newcastle
Falcons.
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