Ernst van Rhyn: 'I’m not dirty... but I like a physical confrontation'

It didn’t take Alex Sanderson long last year to admit he struck gold after recruiting Ernst van Rhyn from South Africa. Pre-season was only a few weeks old when the Sale boss giddily enthused about the character of his Stormers signing, describing him as one of the “smiliest, happiest” people he had ever encountered. “He is like a competition winner,” beamed the delighted director of rugby.

That was July 2023 and 14 months later, RugbyPass went fact-checking Sanderson’s assessment, pitching up in Manchester to take in a full Thursday morning Sharks training session and then chat to Mr. Happy himself when it was all over.

Football fans are in the habit of mistakenly arriving at Sale HQ, a sign at the entrance reading, “This is NOT Manchester United”. When they eventually realise they are in the wrong part of Carrington, they dial up another cab, and off they go in their continued search for round ball heroes.

The Sharks, though, should perhaps consider putting up a second sign, inviting the strays to come inside and run the rule over a very different professional sport. They would be impressed. There was never time to lose during the Sale session, a dirty dozen-titled whiteboard regularly getting brought into the huddles to ensure everyone knew who was where when the reps soon started up again.

Part of the club’s ‘what we stand for’ mantra is ‘humility, we don’t do egos’, and it's certainly true of van Rhyn. You’d never want to run into him on a pitch – his enormous first-season tackle stats highlight how much he craves sitting people down with a bump – but away from the heat of battle, he is the epitome of a gentle giant.

The 'NOT Manchester United' sign at the entrance to Sale's training ground (Photo by Liam Heagney)

His illuminating half-hour chat with RugbyPass confirmed that. “A good training session is getting those things we want to work on right. Every drill we have something specifically going on, and the intensity is also high from the start. The bad ones are normally when you start the first drill and see guys aren’t properly into it, which isn’t ideal.

“Today was more defence focused. The intensity was good and we were preparing for Harlequins, starting to get some pictures. We reacted well. It was about finding our connections, get connected and then as the session went on we got more specific about what a team might throw at us.”

A connoisseur in delivering an expert hit, van Rhyn adores his D. He completed his first Gallagher Premiership campaign credited with a second-best 219 tackles, 16 behind the chart-topping Will Evans whom he will encounter on Sunday at Salford Community Stadium when Harlequins visit in round one of the new season.

He can’t wait to get stuck into whatever threat arrives down his channel this weekend as a second row as opposed to his more regular blindside duties. “I’m not a dirty player but I like a physical confrontation and it’s either him or me,” he chuckled, standing by the side of the training ground pitch with George Ford fine-tuning his place kicking down one end and TV interviews going on for the Curry twins and bossman Sanderson down the other.

“Maybe it just comes naturally in the way I think about the game – I would prefer defence to attack. I’m not a flashy player. I scored my first try for Sale and it was like my first try in three years in the warm-up game (against Newcastle). I don’t score many tries. Like, I’m not especially quick or have good feet. So to go further in rugby, I made tackling a superpower, a point of difference. Through that, I started enjoying the physical confrontation.”

Unlike try scoring, where there is a natural break in play, there’s no time for congratulations in the collision business. “In the moment of getting a good tackle, it’s difficult as I force myself to think of the next thing which is trying to get off the floor, counter rucking or getting out of the ruck, whatever.

“So there is no time to relax, but I definitely get a bit of an adrenaline rush from a big defensive set and getting a few shots in. When we played Newcastle in the warm-up, before half-time we had like a 20-phase defence set. I came in at half-time and was energised because I made four, five tackles in that phase. It was nice and direct and dominant. I always like the directness when we get confronted, that gives me a bit of adrenaline.”

Has he a favourite style impact? “I don’t think so. It’s difficult to say but it is easier when it is like a double-hit tackle, two guys on tackle. The best and the nicest is when the guy is coming and you can line him up. You’re reading the play pretty well and he doesn’t have any options like a guy running off him or inside pass, so you know that he can only carry and you have a bit of time to adjust and make sure they get a good hit.

“It is good to make a lot of tackles but also trying to be dominant for the player I am. Guys running directly at you, I have got to be able to stop momentum and be dominant, so sometimes you get quite a few tackles in a game – but it is also about luck. It doesn’t help if you make 15 tackles and 15 are ineffective, it’s about making as many dominant tackles as possible.

“That starts with my work rate because the more places I get the more tackles I make, so it’s more getting off the ground and that mindset of really pushing myself to work hard which allows me to make the tackles… I have got my technique but it’s more about setting early. The earlier I can get in position the stronger tackle I can make.”

The toll on the body isn’t overly arduous yet. “You wake up after the Newcastle game and the next morning you are sore but it’s a nice sore and sometimes in the off-season, you miss that sore of feeling my shoulders are stiff.

“I’m not the best recovery guy; I tend to take it easy after the game. I do some stretching every evening just before bed, more as a nighttime routine. It’s important. People tell you, you’re laughing now but in five years you are going to be the guy who is going to take his recovery more seriously. It’s something I can improve on.”

Standing at 191cms and weighing 114kgs, van Rhyn sure has the physical tools to leave his mark but it wasn’t always that way. He didn’t become an imposing teen until after the age of 15 when he took an eight-centimetre stretch, added height that gave him the confidence to make tackling his point of difference.

Van Rhyn went on to skipper the Junior Boks in 2017 and was a 2021/22 URC title winner with the Stormers, but the Springboks have never taken his bait. “The ambition is there and it is still a goal but no, no contact yet… That is a big goal, an aspiration, but nothing at this stage so just trying to keep my head down, work hard and keep growing in the game while also enjoying it. As long as I enjoy it then it won’t be too bad.

“I’m a very positive guy. It’s in your mind but it also comes pretty much naturally for me. I’m blessed to always try and see the positive. My parents would say since I was young I had a pretty open face and I’m smiling. I’m happy that comes naturally for me and I feel like it’s the least I can do. A lot of times for other people, you don’t always know what they are going through or struggling, not only in a rugby environment but everywhere, so sometimes a smile can mean a lot.”

Without Test recognition, league final glory remains the standout moment in the recently turned 27-year-old’s career. “From where we came at the Stormers, going through the whole dip, the liquidation and all that drama, and being able to bounce back two or three years after and coming from nowhere, that was definitely the highlight and the way we did it because no one gave us a chance.

“Then winning it in Cape Town, in front of loads of home fans, that was a career highlight – also because it was my childhood team. It was something special.” Why leave then? “I don’t have anything bad to say about anyone there. I still have great friends and still chat with the coaches quite often.

“It was more on a personal level, where I was at in my career. As much as I would have loved to be a one-club man, I needed to challenge myself and get out of my comfort zone because my parents stay about half an hour, 40 minutes outside of Cape Town. So it has always been close to home, pretty comfortable, you know your surroundings, you know everything.

“I just felt like in my career I wasn’t in the right spot to get the opportunities I might have liked. I just needed a breath of fresh air, so I opened myself up for it and then Al and them made contact. There were a few different options on the table but in the end, speaking to Cobus Wiese, who is a good friend of mine, Sale was definitely the right place and the right timing for the move.”

Be it club socials – such as bowling at Lane7 the afternoon RugbyPass visited, the races at Aintree or Cheltenham, or pigeon shooting dressed in suits and Peaky Blinders-style hats – or rambling locally with his wife Bianca through Manchester – visiting charity shops or getting involved in church outreach – or going abroad to places such as his favourite Switzerland and her favourite Italy, van Rhyn is well settled.

“I got married a week before we moved to Manchester. I said, ‘I’m bringing you to Manchester for honeymoon’. Going on this adventure with Bianca, it’s been the best year of our lives. Suddenly we don’t have home half an hour away, it’s just the two of us and we have got to make the best of it.

“The way Sale welcomed us in and actually care, that's important. You are a player but you’re also a person and have a personal life and that’s the biggest thing about Sale, everyone is included. Weekly, Al will ask how Bianca and Michelle Orange asks how’s Bianca before she even asks how I am.

“That is the way to run a successful business or rugby club, it doesn’t matter what industry. Because if you are caring about people and what is important to them, then I honestly think they will be able to deliver better whatever their job is.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ernst van Rhyn (@ernstvanrhyn)