Tendai Mtawarira will be a Shark for the next three years, as the long saga over his domestic home has all but come to an end, with the KZNRU (KwaZulu-Natal Rugby Union) fighting off an audacious bid from the Golden Lions.
However the battle for his services may not be at an end, with the Sharks lodging a formal complaint against the Lions with the South African Rugby Union (SARU), with claims that a contract was offered to 'the Beast' despite being formally bound to the Durban based union.
If this is proven true, it is in breach of SARU reguations.
Mtawarira was targeted as the Lions new poster boy, after the union was taken over by Robert Gumede.
The wooden spoon winners of last year's Investec Super Rugby competition have been rebuilding, starting with the recruitment of former All Blacks, Waikato and Western Force coach John Mitchell.
The great underachievers of the competition lost all 13 games last year, and have not finished higher than 11th since 2002.
While large sums of money have been thrown around, both to Springboks at home and abroad, the Lions have still not signed a marquee player who they could build a team around.
Sharks CEO Brian van Zyl said that the matter was not over.
“We had already signed Tendai and although there were a few addendums to his contract that he still had to initial, the basic contract had been signed," he said.
“The Lions believed they had seen a gap and vigorously pursued our player, even though we had signed him. We obviously are not happy with this and will be taking appropriate action against the Lions.”
It is not the first time the two unions have crossed swords.
Last year there was a battle over the contracts of 2009 Lions players Willem Alberts and Louis Ludik, and eventually the Sharks won with the two being key players for the Durbanites, while Alberts went onto represent his country.
Over a decade ago there was a similar dispute over the services of AJ Venter, who eventually left the Lions and became a veteran of the Sharks for many years.
The Sharks have long maintained they have been a key reason why Mtawarira is one of the more noted props in world rugby, having been spotted by Sharks Academy scouts when he was 16.
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