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CJ Stander's amusing approach to keeping fit on the family farm in South Africa
By Online Editors
CJ Stander has gone to unusual lengths to keep his fitness ticking over during the rugby shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Rather than see the crisis out in Limerick after Ireland’s final two Guinness Six Nations matches against Italy and France were postponed because of the virus outbreak, the South African has used the game’s suspension to head home to the family farm where he grew up in George on the Western Cape.
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While there he has been busy filming his training exploits on Instagram, posting two drills that surely has never done at the Munster high-performance training centre.
In one clip posted ahead of his 30th birthday next Sunday, the back row is seen lifting a heavy bag of De Heus animal feed repeatedly over his head.
However, his second clip was far more humorous, Stander showing some evasion skills in a field while being chased by a sheep.
The South African, who qualified for Ireland under residency, has earned 41 caps for his adopted country, netting the man of the match award in the recent February wins over Scotland and Wales.
He also represented the British and Irish Lions in their drawn Test series in New Zealand in 2017 and will be looking for another visit to his home farm in South Africa next year if he gets selected in Warren Gatland’s 2021 tour squad.
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Latest Comments
I didn't mean to sound down on Dmac. Just looking hard at the bench sub's role of providing impact. I don't think he can do that at 15, and the bench is not really about injury cover anymore (you need to maximise it's use more than that).
He's my first choice of any New Zealander for the 10 jersey with the All Blacks.
Go to commentsAgreed. And I don't have much more to say on it, but I had been having one thought that sprang to mind at the tail of this discussion, and that is that it's not all about Razor.
It's not about any coach being "right". I think a lot of selections can become defense and while it doesn't really apply here I really enjoyed that Andy Farrell just gave into the public demands and changed out his team for the change that had been asked for. Like why not? This is the countries team, keep them engaged. The whole reason i've only just finished watching the game was because I wasn't interested in watching any of the selected players against a team like Italy (still actually enjoyed the first half with the contest Italy made of it).
Faz leap frogs a younger half back into start. He hands the golden child the game over July's golden child. He gives an old winger a go, a new flanker and hooker. None of them really did any good, certainly not enough to suggest they should have been promoted above others, but who cares? You won, and you gave the country what they wanted, that's all that matters after all. It's for the country, not the one in charge who thinks they have to have their own pied piper tune playing.
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