Bulls vow to support Sbu Nkosi amid mental health struggles

Rathbone gave an update on the player on Tuesday after Nkosi was found at his father's home in Emalahleni, Mpumalanga.

The player was located on Monday after he had been absent without leave for the past three weeks.

"We were thrilled to find Sbu and incredibly relieved to see that he was alive. Equally, we were saddened to see him in the state that he was in, a gentle soul who has somewhat seen his light dim owing to his current well-being,” said Rathbone.

"I am however confident that we are in a good position to provide Sbu with the support he needs and that we should acknowledge his incredible courage to even say to us, that he is not okay. 

"Because he does not owe us that and yet he did, a valuable lesson for me and those around Sbu and one day, this will be his story to champion and empower other men to find the courage and find power in accepting help when not okay. Our concern is now on Sbu as a person and not as a player."

Rathbone said the incident shows the importance of mental health awareness.

"We as the Vodacom Bulls will now be exploring, alongside our supportive partners, support mechanisms that we can introduce in our rugby community and this is hopefully the start of something great for South African rugby because we are lucky today but tomorrow, our intervention may be too late and that is not something we want to see become a reality.

"There is mental health screening that is done on a regular basis for our players, although we haven't done enough and more still needs to be done for the better."