Ken Borland

Juan, you’re back in the Springbok squad, that’s an amazing comeback. How does it feel for you?

JS: It’s been a long road back, I was out for 28 months, I had announced I was finished and I saw no light at the end of the tunnel. I had five operations and they were tough times, it was all very dark times. I felt I had no other choice but to call it a day.

But after announcing your retirement you are back on the rugby field. How did that come about?

JS: I had one operation in Bloemfontein and then three in Pretoria. After that I tried everything to fix the achilles but there was no way around it and I was forced to retire. But then a surgeon in Bloemfontein, Dr Johan Kruger, said he could give me a chance of playing again. But for me it wasn’t about playing again, I just wanted to walk without pain. For 25 months I would stand up and go to bed with pain.

I could immediately feel the difference after that operation, the next morning there was no pain, and I said to my wife that I’m going to try and play again.

Thanks to winning the Top 14 and the Heineken Cup with Toulon,  it’s already been a very successful comeback too, hasn’t it?

JS: It’s been great playing for Toulon and winning those two cups was an awesome feeling. What better way to celebrate a comeback than that and to then be picked for the Springboks again.

How important have Toulon been in your comeback?

JS: The important thing is the guys around you and Toulon have some of the best players in the world. I had the privilege of playing alongside Jonny Wilkinson, which was an awesome feeling. It was just amazing to make my comeback and the cherry on top was winning the Heineken Cup and Top 14. I look back a year and I had just played my first 80 minutes; I’ve been able to set new goals at Toulon and I always wanted to play in three World Cups. I missed out on 2011 because of the achilles injury, but I hope next year will make up for that.

Has your game improved or changed while you’ve been at Toulon?

JS: You know, for me, the biggest challenge has always been that I play for myself. For me it’s about work ethic and my own high standards. I feel that I’ve been able to reach that level again at Toulon. I knew that if I can get to that level again, then I can play good rugby and Toulon have allowed me to reach it.

How important is it having several fellow South Africans at Toulon?

JS: I always said I would never leave Bloemfontein or go play overseas. But having South Africans at Toulon made it much easier. We have Wednesdays off so then we can braai [barbecue] and speak Afrikaans together.

What has it been like being back with the Springbok squad?

JS: People say the coach is bringing back all these old guns, but I was only 29 when I played my last Test and I’m not that old now either. Just to be part of this environment again is awesome, I was a bit nervous coming back, but I can see the work ethic is fantastic.

When you look back to 2007 and our World Cup win, we had guys like Os du Randt and John Smit playing and you need those senior players, just their presence brings calm to the side. When you’re going through tough times, then the young guys look up to the older players to make the decisions. You need that balance and it’s a healthy balance in the Springbok team.

There’s a chance you will be up against your Toulon team-mate Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe. How will that be for you?

JS: You always want to prove a point when you play against your team-mates and if I get the chance I’ll try and put a big tackle in on him or do something else not so nice to him! But he’s a lovely guy and an unbelievable player and I look forward to getting together with him after the game.

Sharks scrumhalf Cobus Reinach has scored some tremendous individual tries in the last year, but the newest member of the Springbok squad is adamant that those are not planned and he has just had the good fortune of being in the right place at the right time.

“The tries have been a team effort, I just finished them off,” Reinach said with a modesty that was almost as impressive as some of the moments of solo brilliance he has dazzled with for the Sharks.

“It’s never about me, for me it’s always about getting the ball out, getting quick ball for the team, which is very key to the way the Springboks want to play. I’ll never try and force a gap for myself,” he added.

Reinach is the son of the late Jaco Reinach, the last man to represent South Africa in both rugby and athletics. Jaco was the South African record-holder for the 400m (45.01) from April 1983 until 2011 when it was broken by LJ van Zyl, a three-time African champion and Olympian.

So it probably wasn’t a surprise that Cobus Reinach began his rugby career on the wing, but was moved to scrumhalf when he was deemed to be too small for the back three.

“I always played wing until U13 when I was told I was too small for that position – at all of 38kgs,” Reinach recalled.

“I had to adapt very quickly and I didn’t really have any role-models who were scrumhalves. So I used to watch George Gregan and Fourie du Preez a lot and copy what they did.”

The evergreen Du Preez is injured – out for the rest of the year – which has allowed Reinach to receive his first full call-up to the Springbok squad.

“It’s an exciting, amazing feeling to be around the Springboks. I’m having a good season, which helps, but the main part of being here is to learn. Fourie, Ruan Pienaar and Francois Hougaard are all world-class scrumhalves, but if you want to be the best, then you have to compete against the best,” Reinach said.

While the Sharks, with a conservative game plan and problems at flyhalf, often relied on Reinach’s individual brilliance to spark their attacking play, the Springboks have threats across the park and the 24-year-old knows he has to concentrate on slick service and the one area of his game that has shown signs of weakness – his tactical kicking.

“There are always areas to improve. My passing from both left and right hand is fine, but I’m working on my weak foot.

“At the Sharks, we have a big tactical kicking game and if it doesn’t go your way on the day then you’re in trouble. We weren’t good enough in the SuperRugby semi-final, but the Springboks don’t play the same type of rugby – they run a bit more and they kick and exit their own half differently,” Reinach said.

Reinach junior was just six years old when his father died in a car accident, aquaplaning off the road near Kroonstad and hitting a tree in January 1997, but it is clear Jaco’s legacy lives on strongly in his son.

Apart from being a world-class athlete, denied an international stage due to Apartheid, Jaco Reinach was an exceptional wing who was unfortunate to only play four times for the Springboks. He was at his peak in the mid-1980s, but that was the era of Ray Mordt and Michael and Carel du Plessis and he played in just one series – against the 1986 New Zealand Cavaliers. Reinach snr scored two tries, one of them a memorable effort from the halfway line in the 33-18 victory at Loftus Versfeld.

When Cobus makes his bow on the international stage (it will surely be sooner rather than later), it will be an emotional time for the Grey Bloem product.

“Even though he was not there, my dad was definitely the biggest influence on my career. I always wanted to follow in his footsteps. I watched the Battle of the Giants video of the Springboks’ series against the New Zealand Cavaliers over and over and just to see him run was brilliant. I think I’m quite quick but not as quick as him, especially not off the mark!

“When I saw my name in the Springbok squad, I was so happy. But I’m going to try and keep the emotion out of it until I get in the team. After I’ve played my first game, then I think I will be emotional,” Reinach said with refreshing candour.

There are a million different ways to play rugby and, while there is a hint of contrasting philosophies when it comes to Jake White and Heyneke Meyer, Reinach welcomes all the input at this early stage of his career.

“Every coach has his own idea of how to play, so I’ve picked up a few ideas along the way. That’s how my game will grow up, that’s how I will be able to do everything. With experience and game time, my decision-making will get better and better, but I also don’t want to lose my instinctive moves,” he said.

The instinctive moments of brilliance are what most people will notice; but the best teams have scrumhalves who also do the basics faultlessly, unnoticed, much like a wicketkeeper in cricket.

Scrumhalves need to have their fingers on the pulse of play, they dictate the tempo and flow of the game.

In Cobus Reinach, the Springboks have someone with the skills to grow into that role … with a bit of magic on the side.

Jean de Villiers knows he does not have many appearances left in the Springbok jersey, so the 33-year-old captain is absolutely determined to enjoy every moment remaining in the South African squad.

That same passion has been driving his rehab from a knee injury that kept him out of the Incoming Tours in June and, although he has not played a match since May 3, De Villiers is confident that he won’t have to miss any more Tests as the Springboks head into the Rugby Championship.

“The knee is good, it’s coming on nicely and I’ve been running for the last couple of weeks. It’s improved a lot and I had a full session yesterday [Tuesday], and it’s looking better than I thought it would, there’s no swelling.

“I’ve taken contact and my fitness is good because I’ve been doing lots of cardio. It’s now just a question of getting confidence back in my knee and then I’ll be 100%,” De Villiers said in midweek.

“But it’s never nice sitting on the side. I’m at the end of my career, I realise that’s pretty close, and I want to make whatever’s left of my rugby career as good as possible. You want to make sure you’ve given it your best shot when you hang up your boots.

“If this is my last 12 months with the Springboks then I want to make it great. It’s fantastic to be a part of such a great squad with such great talent and I’m very proud to be a leader in it.

“I’m going to make sure I enjoy the journey and the cherry on top will be the World Cup next year. Your injuries just make you appreciate your time in this game even more,” the father of two daughters said.

While the presence of so many veterans – Bakkies Botha, De Villiers, Bismarck and Jannie du Plessis, Bryan Habana, Victor Matfield, Ruan Pienaar, Gurthro Steenkamp and Juan Smith were all involved in the 2007 World Cup triumph – curdles the breakfast milk of some Springbok fans, the captain insists that the presence of such seasoned internationals is a great strength.

“It’s very exciting to have such good experience and young guys with exceptional talent putting pressure on them for their places. It’s a good balance for us and you see how guys like Handre Pollard and Jan Serfontein played unbelievably well when they started in the incoming Tests.

“We’re in the ideal position to bring youngsters in … look at Lood de Jager playing with Victor Matfield. He knows that he has that experience next to him and that’s why guys like Juan Smith also add value. They’ve been through it all, they can tell the youngsters to ‘do it like this’.

“It speeds up the process of making inexperienced players experienced,” De Villiers pointed out.

South Africa’s most capped centre said the return of Toulon-based loose forward Smith, who has not played a Test since the end of 2010 due to what many felt was a career-ending achilles tendon injury, was particularly inspiring.

“Juan Smith – what a story! His career was ended prematurely and I remember him handing out our jerseys in Nelspruit last year. You could see the determination still in him, that he felt he still had a lot to give.

“He’s kept that hunger and he had a lot to prove even though many people had written him off. But he’s played wonderful rugby for Toulon and he’s a great player and person, with a great story to tell.

“He’s going to bring a lot of energy and put some of the youngsters in their place too!”

Bulls coach Frans Ludeke hinted at the end of his side’s Vodacom SuperRugby campaign this weekend at Loftus Versfeld that he hopes the squad will be boosted by some “special players” for next year’s campaign.

The Bulls finished on a high by hammering the Rebels 40-7 to end in ninth place on the log, second in the South African Conference, beaten only by the playoffs-bound Sharks. But they are painfully aware that they were just one win short of joining the KwaZulu-Natalians in the knockout rounds.

Before restoring some pride against the Rebels, the Bulls suffered successive defeats to the Lions and Stormers, as well as being beaten by the Cheetahs earlier in the season.

“Although we enjoyed the way we finished, there were some vital games where we didn’t get the result we needed. But for one or two losses, we would have easily made the playoffs. But we haven’t played well enough away from home, it wasn’t good enough and there are no excuses.

“You need special performances to win away from home and the margins are small. We created some big moments and finishing those off is how you win. We have a good squad, some great players who will definitely get better.

“But we are obviously looking at some players. In 80% of the games, nine of the starting line-up had not played SuperRugby before this year. Special players make special things happen, but I think I must stop there,” Ludeke said after the match.

The point about acquiring some marquee players was rammed home, though, by captain Victor Matfield.

“To win this competition, you need two or three players that would make a World XV and five or six Springboks. We have youngsters who can become world-class and we finished within seven points of the Waratahs in Sydney so we’re not that far off,” Matfield said.

The Bulls, beset by the overseas exodus and poor recruitment, tackled this SuperRugby campaign with too many players that were merely of Currie Cup quality. Some of the youngsters are certainly developing rapidly, but the negotiations with Adriaan Strauss should solve a problem at hooker and the management really should be on the phone to a quality openside flank as well.

The areas of strength looking to the future are amongst the backs – the midfield, with Jan Serfontein and JJ Engelbrecht possibly the future Springbok centre pairing and the most exciting young flyhalf in the country in Handre Pollard.

Up front, so much still depends on Matfield and, with fellow lock Paul Willemse heading to France, prop Marcel van der Merwe and injured flank Jacques du Plessis are the only young forwards with genuine international aspirations.

The injury-enforced absence of experienced forwards such as Pierre Spies, Deon Stegmann, Dewald Potgieter, Flip van der Merwe and Arno Botha has also greatly hindered the Bulls.

“We’ve lost a lot of loose forwards this year and half-a-dozen of our players are still U21, so if they come through, we will do well,” Matfield said.

It was also encouraging to see Francois Hougaard shrug off a season of grief for him personally and start to look like his old exuberant self on the left wing, while the Bulls looked a slicker outfit on attack thanks to the service of Piet van Zyl at scrumhalf. Springbok considerations have obviously played a part in Ludeke’s selection at nine this year, but perhaps the Bulls will start 2015 as they ended the 2014 competition.

“The new combination worked well. Francois had a lot of energy and looked for work, he was always sniffing for gaps, and Piet van Zyl played very well too.

“Francois’ first choice is to play nine and Piet was unfortunately injured while we were on tour. Only time will tell, but it’s great to keep both involved and I think it was satisfying seasons for both,” Ludeke said.

If all the young talent can continue to grow and the senior players (boosted by a couple of acquisitions) can stay uninjured, then the time of grieving at Loftus Versfeld may be over very soon.