The Vodacom Bulls have added promising young flyhalf Kade Wolhuter to their player roster on loan from the Lions until the end of the season.
The move, which comes after they agreed to release both Boeta Chamberlain and Jaco van der Walt from their contracts, comes to bolster their depth ahead of a challenging second part of the season.
The move may have raised some eyebrows, especially as Wolhuter has struggled since signing his first professional contract with injuries and is yet to get a solid long run in a position to prove his talents that were so celebrated when he was a schoolboy sensation.
While he made his professional debut at 18 for Western Province, he has been hit with long term injuries and has struggled to recover, eventually moving to the Lions on loan and signing a permanent contract with the Joburg side in 2024.
While it hasn’t been confirmed, he was playing a lot for the Lions in the Currie Cup but fell out of favour with the management after the Currie Cup loss to Boland, prompting him to look for a new home.
The Bulls have stated that he will need to pass a full medical to join Johan Ackermann’s team, but will welcome him into an environment which already has Springboks Handre Pollard and Johan Goosen in their ranks as well as Keagan Johannes, signed as a scrumhalf but who has played 10 in a number of games over the past 12 months.
In his four years in Cape Town, Wolhuter played only five times for the Stormers, and 12 for Western Province and since moving to Johannesburg has played eight times for the Golden Lions in the Currie Cup and nine times for the URC franchise.
Chamberlain left at the end of the Currie Cup to join Newcastle Red Bulls while Van der Walt, who also struggled with injuries and didn’t play much for the Bulls in his stay there, has joined the Toyota Cheetahs for their EPCR Challenge Cup campaign.