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Joe van Niekerk names the moment he felt he belonged as a Springbok
By Liam Heagney
Former Springboks back-rower Joe van Niekerk has named the Test match where he first felt he belonged on the international rugby stage. The retired 44-year-old debuted for his country in 2001 but it wasn’t until the following year that he finally became comfortable in the South Africa jersey.
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Appearing on the Kick Offs and Kick Ons podcast with show regulars Matt Giteau, Drew Mitchell and Adam Ashley-Cooper, van Niekerk was asked for his favourite rugby memory, the favourite game for him as a Test player where it made him feel like he finally belonged in the Test arena.
The 52-cap international quickly referenced the 2002 Rugby Championship match that became infamous for a drunken South African fan storming the Kings Park pitch and assaulting Irish referee David McHugh. Explaining his choice, van Niekerk said: “I would probably say when I first came onto the scene, 2001, 2002, I really started to just feel the flow and get into it. I remember a match down in Durban against All Blacks.
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“We lost that Test match very slightly, it was that Test match where the guy ran on and he connected the referee. Do you remember that one? That was like everything is going and even with that antics of what happened, that was just like I’m in the flow man. You know that is just the best.”
The South African, who retired from playing in 2014 following a successful stint at Toulon where Giteau and Mitchell were two of his trophy-winning teammates, spoke at length on the show about his ‘Jungle Joe’ adventures living in Costa Rica and his current life now back home as an holistic health mentor and bodywork practitioner.
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The three retired Wallabies were also asked the same question: what was the moment they felt they belonged in the Test-level arena. Giteau reckoned: “Mine was 2004 in Twickenham. Stephen Larkham got injured. Before that I just come on and play 20 minutes here, 10 minutes here, maybe start against an easier opposition so you never really felt like you could impose yourself in the Test arena. But 2004 at Twickenham, the end of our tour, Stephen Larkham got injured the week before but he hung around, he was like our backs coach to help. Elton Flatley was 10, I was 12.
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“Elton got injured early, I moved into 10 and we ended up winning and I had a hand in helping us, guide us around the field and I felt confident, I felt like I was actually could add the same way I do in Super Rugby. Super Rugby when you can make an impact there and you have make that same impact at the Test arena is when you start to feel like you belong. That was definitely my one.”
Mitchell followed: “The game where I felt like I could be in this arena and at this level was probably my first start for the Wallabies which was my third Test. I was starting at full-back against the All Blacks here in Sydney. Tana Umaga was captain of the All Blacks and he was naming me in the press saying they were going to pepper this young guy with high balls all night.
“I went out and it was the first time in a senior level game I faced the haka and the anthems and it was about 20 minutes in, we had a centrefield scrum, we ran to the left and I went through and palmed Dan Carter, stepped the full-back Mils (Muliaina) and then Jerry Collins tackled me from behind which actually helped me because we then both slid over and I scored a try.
“But then I went back to halfway and it was like almost all those anxieties and nerves just hit me at once and I just vomited on halfway and I just though now I can actually relax in this position.
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“I had just bottled up and surpressed all these nerves and anxieties around whether I could match it at that level and then I felt having a moment like that in that arena, I just went okay, now you can just calm into your position and be confident that you can do something at this level.”
Ashley-Cooper said: “Mine was 2007 against the All Blacks. Even though I debuted in ’05, played a series of Australia A games and I started a couple of games prior to this Test at the MCG in Melbourne in front of 80,000, 90,000. So it was the first start against the All Blacks and there was a bit of controversy around my selection.
“Drew was kind enough to forgo his starting position sit on the pine so I could have a bit of a crack. We ended going on to win that game. I scored a try but just the fact that it was in front of a huge audience, it was against one of the best teams in the world, I got some meat, I guess it was that moment when you go maybe I do belong here and once you start to believe it’s a very powerful tool and things started to progress for me.”
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