Sonny Bill Williams issues Super Rugby plea to South Africa who are ‘playing hard to get’
Bulls taking on Northampton Saints in the Investec Champions Cup and All Blacks legend Sonny Bill Williams.
Sonny Bill Williams has issued a somewhat light-hearted appeal to the South African franchises about making a return to Super Rugby.
Despite remaining in the Rugby Championship, they have not been part of the main southern hemisphere club tournament since 2020.
South Africa have since aligned themselves with the north with the Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers now playing in the United Rugby Championship.
Impressive wins for Sharks and Stormers
They have also been allowed to play in the Investec Champions Cup and Challenge Cup with the Bulls, Sharks and Stormers representing them in the top-tier tournament during the 2025/26 season.
It did not go particularly well this past weekend for the former, who were hammered by Northampton Saints, but the latter two teams managed victories over Saracens and La Rochelle respectively.
Tweeting in response to Grant Williams’ try for the Sharks, the ex-All Black wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “Can the South African teams stop playing hard to get and come back to Super Rugby?” before adding: “asking for a mate.”
Williams is not the only former All Black to want South Africa’s return to Super Rugby with fellow 2011 Rugby World Cup winner Stephen Donald adding his weight to the conversation earlier this year.
Donald’s view
“It’s a different brand of rugby, it’s one of the great rugby nations, so you’re bringing back a level of player,” Donald said in May.
“Obviously, they left to get more money and for the time zone, and it has worked for them. They’ve been able to put more in the coffers, but you sometimes see and read things that maybe everything’s not rosy where they are playing domestically.
“If there was a chance of bringing them back, you would bring them back. For the players, it’s a great experience off the field, but on the field, you get tested when you go to South Africa like never before.
“Yes, you’re playing against big, big humans, but also it’s the toughest place to go and play. It’s the only place you play in the world where you actually feel intimidated by the environment because it is hostile.
“If you’re playing at Super Rugby level at a three-quarters full Loftus Versfeld or in Cape Town and Kings Park, it is a hostile environment and a great place to go and learn your trade. You’re going to have to front up, both as a rugby player and as a man – you are up against it.
“I just think that we are missing them so if there was any chance – maybe two teams or three teams or whatever they have available – you would have to expand that way before you jump into an American team, which I think would be for the benefit of America more than our Super Rugby competition.”
