Bulls forward Daniel Adongo, hailed in some South African quarters as the ‘Black Sonny Bill’, is likely to head to New Zealand to link up with the Counties-Manukau Steelers.
South African media has reported he is heading to New Zealand to play under the former All Blacks captain.
Steelers coach Tana Umaga has seen the promising 23-year-old Kenyan born forward in action before, and is carefully putting together a roster that will look to make a statement during the ITM Cup.
Adongo was brought to Pretoria by current Springboks coach Heyneke Meyer, part of a famed talent identification program that enabled the Bulls to reign supreme during the Investec Super 14 era – winning three championships over that time.
The versatile forward, who can play in the second or back row, appeared to be set up to become something of a poster boy for the Bulls, with the strapping Adongo weighing nearly 115kg despite being in excellent condition.
Expected to be a key player in the Bulls 2012 Investec Super Rugby season, Adongo has not played regularly for the franchise, and his departure comes after CJ Stander announced he was leaving for Munster.
Current Bulls coach Frans Ludeke told the Pretoria News losing such promising players wasn’t ideal, but understood that other opportunities were always "You never want to lose players with that much ability but one can understand that in both cases it is about playing opportunities and the financial benefits for both of them," he said.
“At the Bulls we have released so many guys in the past and they have come back (with the highest profile being Victor Matfield). We will stay in touch, follow their progress and hopefully they will come back.”
