Cheetahs coach Hawies Fourie says the air has been cleared with outgoing hooker Joseph Dweba, who criticised the union in an interview earlier this week.
The 24-year-old Dweba, who was raised in poverty in the Gauteng town of Carletonville, has been at the Cheetahs since 2015 but last week it was confirmed that he would be making the move to Bordeaux-Begles in France.
In a candid interview with the https://www.rugbypass.com/news/joseph-dweba-cheetahs-to-bordeaux/" rel="nofollow - Rugby Pass website, Dweba hit out at the Cheetahs for how they treated him during his stay at the union, saying he was offered a "sh***y contract".
But Fourie told https://www.sarugbymag.co.za/hawies-no-hard-feelings-dweba/" rel="nofollow - SA Rugbymag on Tuesday that he had since spoken with Dweba and said there were no ill feelings.
"I was disappointed, especially because of some of the headlines which said the Cheetahs offered him a s**t contract, and that's not true and not what he meant (about the latest contract offer). He was speaking about a previous contract, I think in 2017, which was for the 2018 season when he was the No 3 hooker behind Torsten van Jaarsveld and Jacques du Toit.
"What I've heard is they didn't give him a big increase or offered him something similar at that time, and that was the contract he was referring to, and not the latest one before he left for France. So I think some of the headlines were misleading in the sense that we gave him a very good offer to try and keep him in Bloemfontein."
In the interview with Rugby Pass, Dweba had particular harsh words for former Cheetahs coach Rory Duncan, who took charge of the side's first PRO14 season in 2017/18.
"Sorry for my language, but I have been bu****ed and fu***d around so many times. I was getting a minute here, two minutes there, never got clear game time," he said.
Dweba also recalled being offered what he considered a poor contract extension by the Cheetahs.
"I went to Harold Verster, the CEO of the company, and told him, 'You are the only guy I'm telling this, but we're (Dweba and his wife) having a baby, my contract is coming to an end and I want to stay at the Free State, so please help me out,'" Dweba said.
"They gave me the exact same offer that they had taken off the table. It was a sh**ty contract. I don't care, I'm having a baby I'll sign the contract and I'll work my ass off. I'm going to show them something different about myself."