ONE of my old bosses tells a story of how legendary rugby writer A C Parker dismissed Naas Botha and his blonde locks as a “flash in the pan” the first time he saw him play.
Given that Naas went on to become “Die Baas”, I think it’s safe to say Parker made a mistake many have made before. Consequently, no sports hack’s career is complete without such a clanger.
One of my many was to write that I thought very little of Springbok eighthman Duane Vermeulen’s claims to the Bok jersey.
Seeing that we’re now talking about a Bok, one would say I shouldn’t add more to my generous helping of humble pie. But Vermeulen’s performances this season have been such that even I can see what the fuss has been about.
My main reason for thinking the Stormers man didn’t have it in him to play international rugby was the typically South African way he played when he started.
When presented with space and blind alleys to run into, SA players almost always go blind.
That love for gratuitous contact led to serious injuries, the first of which (a neck issue) robbed him of his chance to honour his first Springbok call-up in 2008.
Since then, injuries – especially to the knees – have been a constant companion in his career to the point where he reeled them off as such in the Sunday Times recently: “A torn ACL, a torn PCL and a torn MCL.”
As you can tell, Vermeulen is on a nickname basis with his litany of injuries. To be fair to him, it’s not like he didn’t have eye-catching qualities when he burst onto the scene as a Cheetahs player.
He was a punishing number eight defensively and he loved nothing more than wrestling his way over the advantage line.
To gauge how mean he could be going backwards, I’m reminded of a statement former England defence coach Phil Larder made.
He said the one nation he’d love to coach the most was the South Africans because where most kids’ eyes lit up at the thought of carrying the ball, Saffer kids only got excited at the smashing someone.
Vermeulen is a poster boy for that kind of attitude.
Going forward, he once got the ball off balance a couple of years ago, was smashed by two Highlanders who were lining him up, but still regrouped in time to drag both over the advantage line.
The injuries should have broken him, but they seem to have only made him hungrier.
And the impressive thing was how, a bit like Rafael Nadal, he kept coming back an improved player from the setbacks.
With each passing injury he learned to offload in the tackle, become a serious option at the lineout, and improved his breakdown prospect of skills to the point where only Francois Louw and Bismarck du Plessis can be said to be superior to him in that area. And now he is one of the five nominees for SA Rugby Player of the Year.
The next two years will be interesting as Pierre Spies and Ryan Kankowski will be fit and want to go to the World Cup, and the rest of the free world will have found ways of throwing themselves in front of him more effectively than they have so far.
Then there’s also the ever-present spectre of injury when it comes to him.
Vermeulen making doubters eat humble pie
ONE of my old bosses tells a story of how legendary rugby writer A C Parker dismissed Naas Botha and his blonde locks as a “flash in the pan” the first time he saw him play.
Given that Naas went on to become “Die Baas”, I think it’s safe to say Parker made a mistake many have made before. Consequently, no sports hack’s career is complete without such a clanger.
One of my many was to write that I thought very little of Springbok eighthman Duane Vermeulen’s claims to the Bok jersey.
Seeing that we’re now talking about a Bok, one would say I shouldn’t add more to my generous helping of humble pie. But Vermeulen’s performances this season have been such that even I can see what the fuss has been about.
My main reason for thinking the Stormers man didn’t have it in him to play international rugby was the typically South African way he played when he started.
When presented with space and blind alleys to run into, SA players almost always go blind.
That love for gratuitous contact led to serious injuries, the first of which (a neck issue) robbed him of his chance to honour his first Springbok call-up in 2008.
Since then, injuries – especially to the knees – have been a constant companion in his career to the point where he reeled them off as such in the Sunday Times recently: “A torn ACL, a torn PCL and a torn MCL.”
As you can tell, Vermeulen is on a nickname basis with his litany of injuries. To be fair to him, it’s not like he didn’t have eye-catching qualities when he burst onto the scene as a Cheetahs player.
He was a punishing number eight defensively and he loved nothing more than wrestling his way over the advantage line.
To gauge how mean he could be going backwards, I’m reminded of a statement former England defence coach Phil Larder made.
He said the one nation he’d love to coach the most was the South Africans because where most kids’ eyes lit up at the thought of carrying the ball, Saffer kids only got excited at the smashing someone.
Vermeulen is a poster boy for that kind of attitude.
Going forward, he once got the ball off balance a couple of years ago, was smashed by two Highlanders who were lining him up, but still regrouped in time to drag both over the advantage line.
The injuries should have broken him, but they seem to have only made him hungrier.
And the impressive thing was how, a bit like Rafael Nadal, he kept coming back an improved player from the setbacks.
With each passing injury he learned to offload in the tackle, become a serious option at the lineout, and improved his breakdown prospect of skills to the point where only Francois Louw and Bismarck du Plessis can be said to be superior to him in that area. And now he is one of the five nominees for SA Rugby Player of the Year.
The next two years will be interesting as Pierre Spies and Ryan Kankowski will be fit and want to go to the World Cup, and the rest of the free world will have found ways of throwing themselves in front of him more effectively than they have so far.
Then there’s also the ever-present spectre of injury when it comes to him.
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