Springbok discard Aphelele Fassi fully focused on Sharks

Aphelele Fassi has narrowed his focus to his United Rugby Championship exploits with the Sharks after leaving the Springbok squad.

Springbok discard Aphelele Fassi fully focused on Sharks

Aphelele Fassi has narrowed his focus to his exploits with the Sharks after leaving the Springbok squad.

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Fassi and Marcell Coetzee were released from the Springbok squad in late July, with the fullback only having featured in one Test for 2022.

At the time, national coach Jacques Nienaber revealed that both players had been sent home with work to do and were not altogether out of the picture.

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The national side has a packed end of year tour schedule – four Tests and two midweek games – so a large squad is expected to be selected.

Sharks won their URC opener in Italy

While the hope of call-up is in the back of Fassi’s mind, he knows he has to produce the goods for the Sharks in the United Rugby Championship (URC) first.

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“I think everyone wants to be in that [Bok] set-up, but my rugby focus now is with the Sharks family,” said the 24-year-old, as per Rugby365.

“I definitely want to do better things at the Sharks and I think all my focus is definitely here with the Sharks.

“If that opportunity comes my way it will be a credit to the coaching staff and the team at the Sharks.”

The Durban franchise got their URC campaign underway last Friday with an entertaining 42-37 win over Zebre in Italy.

After a first half blitz, the Sharks were up 28-3 at one point before Zebre fought back.

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Aphelele Fassi said the team would not make the same mistake again against the Dragons on Saturday.

“What we learnt from that, is that we should just stick to our plan,” continued Fassi, who started at fullback.

“Having the perfect first half start that we had against Zebre, and going into this game against Dragons, is just about sticking to the plan and not deviating away from what we want to achieve.”

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