The 'most scary thing' Schalk Burger ever saw on the rugby field

Schalk Burger has labelled Samoan powerhouse Henry Tuilagi as the scariest thing he ever saw on the rugby field with the Springboks. The now-retired 39-year-old was a World Cup winner with South Africa at the 2007 finals in France, but their opening round pool match in Paris versus the Samoans made a lasting impression on Burger.

The Springboks ultimately ran out comfortable 59-7 winners to set them on the path that took them all the way to glory at the tournament, but Burger has never forgotten the bull-riding bumping he suffered when trying to slow down the ball-carrying No8 Tuilagi during the early stages of the match.

A guest on the latest episode of RugbyPass Offload, Burger was asked to recall the moment he bruisingly acquainted himself with Tuilagi during the Springboks win. “He was probably the most scary thing I have ever seen on a rugby field,” quipped the former South African forward, delighted with the invitation to cast his mind back 15 years ago.

“I remember Jaque Fourie and Victor Matfield coming to me and saying, ‘Listen here, there is this bloke Henry Tuilagi, he is absolutely massive. I have just seen him, he weighs like 130kgs, he’s 6ft 2 but he is the biggest thing I have ever seen’.

“So me and Victor, we’re standing up (in the tunnel). At World Cups, you line up and then walk out together. The South Africans lined up one to 23 so Victor looks back at me and says, ‘Nah, he is not that big’. For some reason, the Samoan line was a bit quicker than we were walking and it was the tiny little brother Alesana Tuilagi walking out (alongside us).

“All I could see was Victor just panicking. He was looking back and going, ‘Oh, this isn’t the number eight’. Then it’s probably ten or 15 minutes into this game, it’s halfway and it’s a shortened lineout, five-man, and I was standing at the back, Danie Rossouw and me. We used to defend like up and in a fair bit.

“We lined up alright but this was ridiculous because I looked to the right and Butch James was almost on the 15 on the opposite side of the field and he looked at me and said, ‘That’s not mine. There is absolutely no chance’.

“It’s the first time everyone had seen Henry Tuilagi standing midway between the 22 and the try line and he was the lineout trigger so when he got to full pace just on the other side of the 22, the ball came and the next moment there was a gap for him to run through.

“I hoped to God that he was running past Butch but he just sort of looked at me and was coming straight at me. So I actually put a decent shot in from the side but as I swung around I was now basically riding on his back like a bull. He is carrying me and I can see Danie Rossouw sitting down on the bottom. He is a huge man, 124kgs, and I was on the back of Henry going over Danie riding off the back of him. It was just amazing.

“I remember having a few beers afterwards, all of us sitting there and Oz du Randt was on brandy. He was like, ‘This is the last bit of my career, I’m just going to retire after the World Cup. Never in my life have I been honest enough to say to a coach that I was scared but if someone asked me after 20 minutes today if I am scared, I would have said yes’.”

The Henry Tuilagi reputation has now been passed down to his son Posolo, the 6ft 4in and approximately 145kg 18-year-old. Last month he made his Top 14 debut for Perpignan.