Ken Borland

Racing 92’s new fullback signing Warrick Gelant plays with a joie de vivre that comes from a great love for the game of rugby, but he first began playing the sport so he could join his friends in getting out of sitting in class.

Gelant, who is currently in South Africa’s squad for the Rugby Championship, was born in Knysna, the holiday destination on the stretch of beautiful coastline a four-hour drive west of Cape Town known as The Garden Route. He attended the community primary school in Hornlee and was an active participant in several sports.

“Growing up in Knysna, I played a lot of different sports and we would always be having games in the street,” Gelant says. “I really wanted to represent my province, South-Western Districts, in one of them.

“I was especially keen on football and cricket, and rugby was actually almost the last sport I tried, starting when I was nine years old.

“For the boys who did play rugby, Wednesday was their match day and, because they were allowed to leave school early to get to their games, I would be the only one left in the classroom!

“Being the last one in the classroom was not something I enjoyed, so about three weeks into the season I decided to join my friends and do the whole rugby thing.

“But because I was joining late, I did not want it to look like I didn’t know what I was doing, so I made a point of studying all the laws and the skills.

“Fortunately I could kick with both my feet because of football and my handling was good because of cricket,” Gelant said.

His tremendous ball-sense meant he did earn his South-Western Districts colours, being chosen for the U13 Craven Week in 2008.

His primary school coaches, Frank Borchards and Neil Weber, recognised that he had special talent, and through their efforts Gelant received a bursary to do his high schooling at Hoërskool Outeniqua in nearby George. This school is well-known as a rugby hotspot, consistently ranking in the top-10 junior teams in South Africa and it has produced some brilliant talent through the years. This year they had five players in the South African Schools team.

“Everything started happening at Outeniqua,” Gelant says of a journey that saw him make the SA Schools team in 2013 and the Junior Springboks the following year.

Having signed for the Bulls in faraway Pretoria in 2014, Gelant returned to the Cape in 2020 to play for the Stormers. By then he was a World Cup winner with the Springboks and acknowledged as one of the most exciting talents in the country.

But his move to Cape Town coincided with the shutting down of rugby due to the Covid-19 pandemic and he also then suffered an ACL knee injury when the action resumed.

But this year was a triumph for the man known as “Boogie” – probably for both his threat as the boogie-man for defences and also his fast feet.

Gelant dazzled in counter-attack for the Stormers and was arguably the best fullback in the United Rugby Championship as the team that started the competition in disarray due to off-field problems ended up winning the trophy.

Gelant loved the season, not only because of the success, but also because of the style of rugby the Stormers played under coach John Dobson.

“We had to get accustomed to a new style of rugby and rules are blown differently in the UK. So we struggled initially, but at least we were together all the time overseas and we could sort things out,” Gelant says.

“Belief started to creep in when we saved the game against Edinburgh and then we beat the Dragons. Things started to work for us and we really started to believe we were getting somewhere.

“There was buy-in from everyone in terms of how we wanted to play and we really played for each other. So we ended up winning our last 11 games on the trot.

“The Irish and Welsh teams really stick to their systems, they are very tight and very driven by that, they rarely go out of their system. And that can really break you down.

“So we needed to disrupt their structure and we did that by not making our play too structured. We needed to find a way to handle chaos better than they did.

“We needed to understand what sort of game we wanted to play and if we wanted to kick. It was about how to handle territory and space and understand the opportunities that are there when play gets loose and making sure you can capitalise. It’s about the way everyone reacts and plays off each other,” Gelant said.

So given that he enjoyed the previous season so much, why is Gelant moving to France?

It is simply to take his game to the next level and he believes France is the best place to do that. He has only played 10 Tests for South Africa and you fancy that is a number Gelant is eager to grow.

“Anytime you go to a top club it is an opportunity and I believe the Top 14 is the best competition in the world. It’s really tough because there are 14 different teams in it, compared to just four franchises in South Africa,” Gelant says.

“You also play in such different conditions: You play indoors in a closed stadium at Racing, but then you’ll be in the rain and maybe even snow in your away matches.

“Every part of my game will be tested. I certainly don’t know it all yet, and it will be a great test to measure myself. And Racing have amazing management and they are a great club,” Gelant says.

This determination to get the most out of his talent should benefit Racing 92 in the coming season. Only the most naïve of babes in the woods would expect to never get injured during a rugby career, but the way Gelant has fought back from double knee surgery at the end of 2020 speaks volumes for his motivation and professionalism.

In order to ensure he would return to being the player he was, Gelant sacrificed playing against the British and Irish Lions last year in order to have both knees sorted out at the same time.

“I already had a hole in my one cartilage when I tore my ACL and I had been playing in severe pain. I had the opportunity to get the other knee fixed too, but that meant turning my back on the Lions tour,” Gelant explains.

“But I made a really mature decision to sacrifice in the short-term and fix both knees at the same time. It was not easy, but I believe I have a lot of rugby still in me.

“There were tough times in rehab, but I imagined myself coming back as a better player, moving better and being more mature.

“When I did come back for the Stormers, it felt amazing and I know I made the right decisions. I quickly refound my old form.

“I was so grateful just to be playing again after double knee surgery. It can be taken away from you so easily.

“I feel I can still take my game up a notch, I can still get better now that my body has no issues.

And I haven’t given up on the Springboks either. Being exposed to quality, world-class players in France every week will give me the best chance of getting back into the Springbok starting XV. If they do select me, they will be getting a better player than I was,” Gelant states.

In the meantime, Racing 92 are getting a gem of a player, a special talent who is in the right head space.

Having won the first match at Chester-le-Street, South Africa are one win away from clinching their first 50-over series triumph in England since 1998 as they go into the second ODI at Old Trafford on Friday, but being on the verge of claiming a trophy can bring challenges of its own.

In the five-match T20 series in India last month, the Proteas pulled off two impressive wins chasing in Delhi and Cuttack, but then lost the next two matches as conditions became more typically subcontinental. The decider in Bengaluru was washed out.

In their previous ODI series, they lost the deciding match against Bangladesh at Centurion for a shock series defeat.

But before that, their previous bilateral series in both formats saw them whitewash India 3-0 in home ODIs in January and Sri Lanka 3-0 in T20s in Colombo last September.

“In India we said the third game was our final,” fast bowler Anrich Nortje said on Thursday, “but we didn’t get it done. So the next game too was a final and the same thing happened, we didn’t pull it through.

“We’ve definitely taken some learnings from that. We can’t read too much into the past and we need to assess conditions as quickly as possible.

“We must do what we do well and not worry about England’s strategy, even though they have very good batsmen,” Nortje said.

South Africa used the big field at the Riverside Stadium, and a baking pitch that became harder to bat on, to their advantage in the first ODI, and Old Trafford, one of England’s grand old venues, also has a large outfield.

That will mean the Proteas spinners – Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi and Aiden Markram – will again be key players and England will want to shake off the impression that they played them a bit like Geoff Boycott’s grandmother with her proverbial stick of rhubarb.

All-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo has been ruled out of the series due to his concussion and is likely to be replaced by Dwaine Pretorius, but fast men Nortje and Lungi Ngidi gave the spinners great backing earlier this week.

Of the last 10 ODIs at Old Trafford, eight have been won by the team batting first.

“Hopefully we win the toss if that’s the case,” Nortje laughed. “Our spinners have really been crucial for us, they’ve done a great job in the middle overs and Kesh at the start too.

“It’s nothing fancy in terms of our attack, we all just contribute our little bits. We’ve got to adapt, and if there’s a bit in the pitch then you can be boring as a bowler, just try hit the top of off-stump.

“But if it’s flat and the batsmen are attacking, then you’re trying bouncers, yorkers, slower balls. We hear conditions will be better than the last venue, with more bounce and a bit more in it for batting and bowling,” Nortje said.

The game starts at 2pm SA time.

To be frank, it was a demolition as South Africa slammed a mighty 333/5 batting first in the opening ODI against England at Chester-le-Street on Tuesday, Rassie van der Dussen leading the way with a fabulous century.

Having lost the toss in sweltering, heatwave conditions in Durham, north-east England, the home side were ill-equipped to handle the clinically efficient Proteas batting line-up, a flat pitch and the soaring temperatures which reached in excess of 35°C, necessitating extra drinks breaks.

Quinton de Kock (19) and Janneman Malan produced a solid start, putting on 35 in the first six-and-a-half overs before De Kock misjudged the lower bounce of a Sam Curran cutter and was bowled trying to pull.

That brought Van der Dussen to the crease and he immediately set about his business building an innings of considerable substance. Without ever seemingly being in a rush, he drove beautifully through the covers and used the reverse-sweep to good effect as he brought up his half-century off just 45 balls.

Malan had gone to a composed half-century himself, but began to lose steam in his innings and fell for 57 off 77 balls in the 26^th over, holing out at cow-corner off Moeen Ali.

The real destruction came when Aiden Markram joined Van der Dussen and the pair blasted 151 runs for the third wicket off just 123 balls.

Markram took a little while to find the right tempo to his innings, perhaps going a little too hard at the ball at first, but once he let his class take over, he was near unstoppable as he slammed 77 off 61 balls.

Markram fell in the 46^th over as South Africa looked to ram home their advantage, holing out to spinner Liam Livingstone, and Van der Dussen fell two balls later to the same bowler, bowled by another delivery that skidded through low.

But by then Van der Dussen had plundered 133 off 117 balls, his ODI stats reaching for the heavens as he has now scored 1498 runs in 30 innings at an average of 74.90 and a strike-rate of 90.56.

David Miller scored a rather scratchy 24 not out off 14 balls and there was some reward for the persevering Brydon Carse, who comes from South Africa, as he dismissed Heinrich Klaasen (12).

The Welsh may not have felt the Springboks’ selection for the second Test in Bloemfontein was prim and proper for the occasion, but in the end they needed a 78^th-minute try and a brilliant touchline conversion by Gareth Anscombe to win 13-12 and celebrate their first victory in South Africa.

Here are four Talking Points from the game:

Did Jacques Nienaber’s selection gamble pay off?

No. And it’s not as if several players took the chance to make a big statement either. Of the 19 new players chosen, eighthman Evan Roos was probably the standout with a busy first half featuring several strong carries, while wing Kurt-Lee Arendse looked threatening on attack.

Nienaber will at least have more clarity in terms of selection now, and will know that the vast majority of the team that played in the first Test in Pretoria will be his first-choice players going forward.

The decider in Cape Town next weekend will surely see the Springboks field their proper team.

Many a slip between the cup and the lip

There were periods when the Springboks cooked up all the ingredients to turn their territorial dominance into points, but several times it was like the fork nearing the mouth but the food falling off.

South Africa just could not convert some bright attacking moments into a single try, all 12 of their points coming from four Handre Pollard penalties, but the captain also missed two penalties which proved crucial in the long run.

Credit must be given to the steely Welsh defence, but the Springboks need to polish up those finishing touches.

Mixed fortunes for new caps

While starting debutants Roos and Arendse did well, the four new caps coming off the bench did not have much impact. Loosehead prop Ntuthuko Mchunu earned a penalty from his first scrum with a mighty shove, but then conceded a penalty for scrumming in that gave Wales the territory to launch their matchwinning try.

Ruan Nortje and Deon Fourie could not turn the shifting momentum in the final quarter and reserve scrumhalf Grant Williams came on when Pollard left the field with a leg injury. The Springboks will be hoping it was just cramp, otherwise there will be fresh problems at flyhalf after Elton Jantjies’ off-colour display in the first Test.

Credit to Wales

The tourists defended with tremendous zeal and dominated the aerial battle, which was enough for them to win a tightly-contested battle. Initially it seemed like Wales were going to struggle in the scrums and lineouts, but Wayne Pivac’s side fought back to level the playing field in those crucial set-pieces. They were also tenacious at the breakdown and flank Tommy Reffell was named man of the match in his second Test.