1
'I was stunned, it was surreal... I couldn't have dreamed of it'
By Daniel Gallan
Ivan van Zyl has learned plenty of new tricks since he joined Saracens in 2021. By his own admission, he needed to sharpen his skills to meet the unique demands of European rugby. He has honed his kicking game and adapted to the wind at the StoneX Stadium which he said, “Never stops for a second”.
But in the two years that the South African has been at the English club, he has helped to educate his teammates on one important thing. At least he is trying to. “I’m still teaching them how to do a proper braai,” he told RugbyPass, using the Afrikaans word for a barbecue.
“I’m the one with the tongs. We had one at my place a few weeks ago and the boys all brought little sausages or smaller bits to nibble. I realised I’m the one who has to bring the steaks.”
That is not all van Zyl has contributed this season. After losing to an 80th-minute Freddie Burns drop goal in last year’s Gallagher Premiership final, Mark McCall and Owen Farrell encouraged their team to play a more expansive game.
“We played exactly how Leicester wanted us to play,” the Pretoria-born scrum-half said of that 15-12 defeat at Twickenham last June. “This season we have prepared to make smarter decisions and be more adaptable. That is what rugby is. The better we can make decisions the better it is for the team. But the team needs to get you in those positions.”
“I came here pretty raw. I had spent seven seasons with the Bulls, and you learn to play a certain way in South Africa. It was almost never wet, and the ground was hard. The only time I played in the wind was the odd time in Cape Town. I had this idea that I was sharp, but you come here and it’s a different game.
“I wanted to prove that I belonged in that changing room. Now my game is the best it has ever been. I’m so much better technically. I don’t make as many mistakes as I used to. Every part of my game has improved.”
Van Zyl added that he wants to leave a legacy with the club. Though he didn’t watch much northern hemisphere rugby when he was making his name in South Africa, Saracens’ reputation filtered through the fog and left a mark.
He name-checked Brendan Venter and lauded the foundations set before McCall took full control in 2011. He smiled when speaking of the all-conquering ‘Saffacens’ that included Schalk Brits, Schalk Burger, Vincent Koch, Petrus du Plessis and Neil de Kock.
“When I’d occasionally talk to those guys, they would all speak about Sarries as this incredible place,” van Zyl continued. “I always said that if I ever moved overseas this is the club where I would want to go.
View this post on Instagram
“There is a standard here that not many clubs can match. Making finals is not enough. We judge ourselves by winning trophies. You are not satisfied unless you achieve that goal. That hunger and desire to keep going and do it again and again is something to admire. I have loved being a part of it.”
Besides adding another trinket for the mantlepiece, victory over Sale Sharks on Saturday would accomplish something else that is on van Zyl’s to-do list. At least, he hoped it will. “I haven’t stopped thinking about playing for the Boks again. Of course, it’s every South African rugby player’s dream to play for the Boks and I’d love to be there again.”
The last of his six Test appearances came in November 2018 on South Africa’s end-of-year tour to Europe. He was the starting scrum-half in Rassie Erasmus’ first game in charge – a 22-20 loss to Wales in Washington DC – but was soon overtaken by Faf de Klerk, Cobus Reinach and Herschel Jantjies. By the time the 2019 Rugby World Cup squad was announced a year later, van Zyl was on the periphery.
He admitted that “something miraculous would need to happen” for him to earn a ticket to France at the end of this year, but he is still only 27. “The next World Cup is the target. All I can control is to play well and put in big performances.
"Those guys ahead of me have been playing brilliantly but I'm getting closer. All I can do is control my own game. I think winning a trophy with a massive club playing in a very tough league would help get me noticed.”
Trending on RugbyPass
2
Stuart Lancaster 'wants out' of Racing 92 and eyeing Euro giants job
3
Henry Arundell lined up for early England homecoming
4
Steve Borthwick handed fresh injury concern ahead of Six Nations
5
Latest Comments
oh ok, seems strange you didn't put the limit at 7 given you said you thought 8 was too many!
Why did you say "I've told you twice already how I did it but your refuse to listen" when you had clearly not told me that you'd placed a limit of 8 teams per league?
"Agreed with 4 pool of 4 and home and away games?"
I understand the appeal of pools of 4, but 6 pool games might not go down well with the French or the South Africans given already cramped schedules. I do still think that you're right that that would be the best system, but there is going to be a real danger of French and SA sides sending b-teams which could really devalue the competition unless there is a way to incentivise performance, e.g. by allowing teams that do well one year to directly qualify for the next year's competition.
Go to commentsFoster should never have been appointed, and I never liked him as a coach, but the hysteria over his coaching and Sam Cane as a player was grounded in prejudice rather than fact.
The New Zealand Rugby public were blinded by their dislike of Foster to the point of idiocy.
Anything the All Blacks did that was good was attributed to Ryan and Schmidt and Fozzie had nothing to do with it.
Any losses were solely blamed on Foster and Cane.
Foster did develop new talent and kept all the main trophies except the World Cup.
His successor kept the core of his team as well as picking Cane despite him leaving for overseas because he saw the irreplaceable value in him.
Razor will take the ABs to the next level, I have full confidence in that.
He should have been appointed in 2020.
But he wasn’t. And the guy who was has never been treated fairly.
Go to comments