17 stone centre credits genes and not weight training for massive physique
Rohan Janse van Rensburg wants to power Sale into the Gallagher Premiership play-offs and relaunch his Springbok career with the aim of facing the British and Irish Lions on their 2021 tour of South Africa.
Van Rensburg, 6ft and 17st, has become one of the most destructive ball-carrying centre’s in Europe and will have a key role to play as Sale attempt to inflict more pain on Saracens when the teams meet in the Premiership at Allianz Park on Saturday. The 25-year-old goes into that game having beaten 47 defenders – more than any other player in the Premiership.
Saracens are already resigned to relegation after breaking the salary cap while Sale are in third place just four points behind leaders Exeter, the team they beat 22-19 at Sandy Park in their last league fixture. Van Rensburg was cited for a big tackle on Exeter’s Gareth Steenson and despite being cleared he had to wait for the verdict after an appeal against the ruling by the Rugby Football Union.
He was again found not guilty and lines up against Saracens, the team that showed Sale the value of a strong South African influence.
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Besides van Rensburg, the Sale squad now features the South African rugby talents of skipper Jono Ross, the three du Preez brothers Rob, Dan and Jean Luc, prop Coenie Oosthuizen, lock Lood de Jager, hooker Akker van der Merwe and mercurial scrumhalf Faf de Klerk who is expected back from his knee ligament injury in two weeks.
If that wasn’t enough to make van Rensburg feel at home, his brother Tiaan has joined the Manchester police force after transferring from Glasgow.
Van Rensburg, whose only cap came against Wales in 2016, is acutely aware of the role Sale played in reviving de Klerk’s test career with the scrumhalf and de Jager having helped the Springboks win the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan by defeating England, featuring teammate Tom Curry, in the final.
All systems go for league's controversial recruithttps://t.co/8FGa9Dx5ol
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 13, 2020
Now, he wants to follow de Klerk’s lead and put together a current CV that warrants a Springbok recall and the looming test series between the World Cup winners and the Lions is a major motivating factor. He told RugbyPass: “My motivation is to try and play for the Springboks and I am going to push hard to get back into the mix even if it’s just to train with them.
“I am going to just keep pushing hard and hopefully my opportunity (to play for the Boks) will come again and I can take it with both hands. After the World Cup they are on such a high and what Rassie (Erasmus) has built is fantastic and you want to be part of that. Talk about joining the Six Nations is interesting and whatever they do will be good for South African rugby.
“We have a lot of South Africans playing here and we are very respectful of everything and with Lood coming in maybe there will be a few different line outs. You hear the guys talking about Lood and saying “that is a big human being” and when he walks into the room there is then a big presence and everyone is excited to see him back.
Dai Young could be about to return to Wales. https://t.co/Nw9U6HgQCa
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“There are a bunch of things that help me perform well and this season things have progressed in the right direction and we have had continuity which helps gel with the guys around you. Our win at Exeter was big and gave us that confidence that when we go away from home that anything can happen. It proved we can go to somewhere like Exeter and get a win and now we have Saracens and I haven’t played there before and after what has happened in the last few months to them they will come out with lots of passion.
“If we stay humble we can reach a top four finish to make the play-offs and the crazy thing is that because of injury and test call ups we haven’t put out our full-strength side yet. It’s been a roller coaster so far but we have a really strong foundation.”
Van Rensburg has battled against serious injury and personal tragedy during his career and in 2017 his mother, Renthia, died of cancer, he suffered a knee injury a month later which ruled him out for 12 weeks then armed robbers broke into his home, threatened his girlfriend and pointed a gun to his head.
The burly centre used rugby to help him over those incidents and opted to join Sale on a three-year deal in June 2018 after a successful loan spell in Manchester, although his former Lions coach Johan Ackermann was interested in taking him to Gloucester. Instead, van Rensburg chose to join Sale and credits Steve Diamond, the club’s director of rugby, for helping him settle in and make the most of his rugby talents with his physique down to genes rather than weight training.
“I have always been the more bulkier guy in the team and there hasn’t been any weight training or power training – it is just the way I am built,” he added. “I have to thank my parents for that.
Sale want us to grow as a unit with a good foundation in your game like kick chase which maybe you don’t think about and they also make sure you play to your strengths.
“Everyone who has come from abroad can just concentrate on their game and it’s a very empowering atmosphere.
“Dimes has an open door policy which is great and my brother has been living here for seven years and was with the police in Glasgow and has now moved down to Manchester. It’s nice to have him close by.”
Van Rensburg is part of a squad containing three sets of brothers – two identical Ben and Tom Curry plus Jean Luc and Dan du Preez – which can cause some confusion as he admitted: “I can tell the difference off the pitch but there have been times in a match when they both played Ben has done something and I have said “well done Ben” and I got the reply “no it’s Tom!”
Comments on RugbyPass
AI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
25 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
13 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
25 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
13 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
1 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
13 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
13 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
13 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
13 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
13 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
45 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
58 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to comments