{"id":417814,"date":"2026-02-10T10:21:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T10:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/417814\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T10:21:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T10:21:08","slug":"bulls-move-on-le-roux-as-bath-contract-talks-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/417814\/","title":{"rendered":"Bulls move on Le Roux as Bath contract talks end"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Bath\u2019s former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/south-africa\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">South Africa<\/a> under-20 scrum-half <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/players\/neil-le-roux\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Neil Le Roux<\/a> is set to leave The Rec at the end of the season after agreeing to rejoin his former club, the Bulls, when his contract runs out this summer.<\/p>\n<p>Le Roux, 22, left the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/bulls\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bulls<\/a> in 2024 to move to the West Country after initially joining to complete rehabilitation from injury with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/bath\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bath<\/a> Rugby medical team.<\/p>\n<p>Then, in May 2025, his contract was extended by a year, but injuries have forced him down the pecking order to third or even fourth choice in Johann van Graan\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n<p>Tom Carr-Smith is firmly established as Ben Spencer\u2019s number two. Bernard van der Linde, who made the reverse move from Pretoria on a two-year deal last summer, started last weekend\u2019s PREM Cup game with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/sale\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sale<\/a> Sharks.<\/p>\n<p>Bath also have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/players\/ieuan-davies\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ieuan Davies<\/a>, who was born and bred in Swansea, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/wales\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Wales<\/a> under-20 international who has played twice for Cardiff in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/challenge-cup\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Challenge Cup<\/a> this season, waiting in the wings.<\/p>\n<p>Le Roux, a product of Oakdale Agricultural High School, played at the U20 World Cup in 2023 when he was tipped to become a future Springbok international.<\/p>\n<p>But injuries and a lack of game time at the Rec, where he has made seven appearances this season, have brought his career to a standstill, and he has decided to return home.<\/p>\n<p>Le Roux, who spent two seasons at Loftus without making a senior appearance, is hoping that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/players\/johan-ackermann\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Johan Ackermann<\/a> will be able to kick-start his career.<\/p>\n<p>He will become the latest South African departure from the treble winners, following hot on the heels of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/players\/thomas-du-toit\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Thomas du Toit<\/a> joining the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/sharks\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sharks<\/a> and Fran\u00e7ois van Wyk announcing he is off to Connacht.<\/p>\n<p>Will Butt is also joining Exeter Chiefs, while nobody has yet been confirmed as coming in. They have spoken to props, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/glasgow\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Glasgow<\/a> Warriors star <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/players\/jamie-bhattie\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jamie Bhatti<\/a>, about returning to the club.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bath\u2019s former South Africa under-20 scrum-half Neil Le Roux is set to leave The Rec at the end&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417815,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-417814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}