'Some of my mates were like, 'Chill out, man, what are you doing?' But I didn't care'
Juan de Jongh tells a story about the Olympic village, a smartphone and Serena Williams.
There he was, at the heart of the action in Rio, a member of the Blitzbokke squad that claimed third place and bronze medals four years ago. He walked awestruck through the streets of the athletes’ residence passing one sporting colossus after the next.
He would ask for photographs and gorge himself on the wisdom of these elites. He spotted the great tennis champion, wearied by a snaking throng of admirers and selfie-seekers, and thought he’d chance his arm.
“Serena had taken some photos and she blocked me and my mate off because she wasn’t taking any more,” de Jongh laughs.
“She took a lot of photos and when we came up to her, she said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m done’. Sometimes the timing is off when people come to you, and I know that as a professional rugby player. It’s not good when it happens to you, but it’s nothing personal. Other people would have taken it differently.”
The custard pie from Serena could not dull an exhilarating trip. For a sports geek like de Jongh, the Wasps centre of 19 Springbok caps, Rio was pure paradise.
“You’ve got Usain Bolt here, Serena there, Rickie Fowler and Sergio Garcia,” he tells RugbyPass. “I was like a kid in a candy box.
“Some of my mates were like, ‘Chill out, man, what are you doing?’ But I didn’t care, I knew what a moment it was being around all these people, looking up to them and what they have achieved. I had a good chat with Martin Kaymer, some of the golfers were asking how hard rugby is, fifteen guys tackling the s**t out of each other wearing no padding or helmets.
“Venus Williams was super humble, making time for everyone. Sergio as well, he was walking on the parade for Spain, and I was calling him and waving across, he didn’t know who I was, but he still came over and we had a conversation.
“To experience something like that, to call yourself an Olympic medallist, is mind-blowing. I’ve got all this footage on my phone, it’s something I’ll watch and remember for the rest of my life – especially to show my little daughter someday that, yeah, papa was a cool guy.”
Two-year-old Emily’s early days will be very different to her father’s. The youngest of four siblings, de Jongh was raised on the Western Cape amid the economic volatility of post-apartheid South Africa.
When his mother lost her job, life became a grind. Rugby boots were often beyond the family’s disposable income. So were trips to the provincial trials through which their son was beginning to motor.
“In terms of struggling to get my boots, making sure I could achieve my goals at that time, we were all going through a tough patch,” de Jongh says.
“We had one car, and I needed to go to trials, but luckily a lot of friends and family helped us out to get me where I had to go. If not, it could have been a different story and I wouldn’t be sitting here today having achieved what I have. It made me the man that I am today.”
In a land of midfield meatheads, de Jongh was petite, an effervescent little bundle of line-breaking, hot-stepping mayhem. Yet he was constantly told that 5ft 9ins and 80KG was far too puny to cut it, that he would be smashed around like a Mini Cooper careering into monster trucks.
De Jongh had the fire to shut the doubters up. He became not just a regular but a stand-out performer in the Western Province age grades and Rassie Erasmus called him up to train with the Stormers, a ticket to the big time with rock stars like Schalk Burger and Jean de Villiers. Then, at 19, disaster struck. A severe hip injury kept him out for almost a year.
“It was a massive blow aged 19, and I had to mature very quickly to get over it,” de Jongh says. “I had to gym twice a day, rehab every day. I wasn’t blessed with good DNA and a massive body so I had to keep mine strong.
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“I had a quote, eight words, stuck behind my door: if it’s to be, it’s up to me. If I wanted to achieve my goals – become a Stormer, become a Springbok – then I had to put in the hard yards, not rely on anyone else.
“Another quote I always used: if size matters, why is the elephant not the king of the jungle? It doesn’t matter if you’re 19 and up against a 30-year-old, you need to make sure you are the lion, you don’t look at how he looks or how big his calves are, you put him under pressure and use your skills, try to outsmart and outwork him.
“Coaches told me to my face, ‘You will never be a Bok unless you weigh 95-100KG’. 100%, I wanted to prove people wrong. South Africans are big boys and our culture is all about being physical and aggressive.
“You have got to block that negative noise out. My positives were that I could step, fend, see gaps, pass a ball, but I also knew that being small I had to have heart. Every weekend in Super Rugby, as a young boy, it was a massive opponent. One week, it’s Sonny Bill Williams. The next, it’s Ma’a Nonu. Then it’s Adam Ashley-Cooper. You can’t be scared.”
The fearless lust to make it propelled de Jongh to Super Rugby, the Test arena, and now to Coventry, where he, wife Simone and little Emily have been for three years.
For Wasps, last season was less rollercoaster and more bucking bronco. The grim start, the sad departure of Dai Young, the chaos of Covid-19 and the blistering resurrection orchestrated by Lee Blackett. De Jongh missed swathes of the white-knuckle campaign through injury, and then struggled to infiltrate the fabulous play-making axis forged by Jacob Umaga, Jimmy Gopperth and Malakai Fekitoa.
When Fekitoa damaged his groin in the Premiership semi-final shellacking of Bristol Bears, de Jongh, from nowhere, was thrust into the line-up for the showpiece. He could not help Wasps derail the Exeter juggernaut but at last, with the new season under way, he can stake a claim to regular minutes. Throughout all this time, his positivity has never waned.
“If you focus too much on, ah, I can’t make the team, I can’t do this, injuries keep coming, all your energy in negative things you can’t control, you are going to make things so hard for yourself,” he says.
“Every day in the gym, I want to bench more this week than last, I want to challenge myself to get my GPS metres higher, pass better, the small one percent-ers that add up to a lot on the field.
“Whatever I can do to push the squad forward to go one better from last season, lifting the Premiership trophy, or even the Champions Cup.”
Five months from his 33rd birthday, there may not be many more opportunities for silverware. Perhaps, with a medal or two around his neck, Serena might take him up on the request for a photo.
Comments on RugbyPass
Super rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
8 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
9 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
8 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
4 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
22 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
4 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
9 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
16 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
16 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
14 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
4 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
5 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
6 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
22 Go to commentsJake White is a brilliant coach and a master in the press. This is another masterclass in media relations and PR but its also a very narrow view with arguments that dont always hold water. White wants his team to win, he wants the best players in SA and wants his team competitive. You however have to face up to the reality of a poor exchange rate and big clubs with big budgets. SA Rugby cant compete and unless it can find more money SA players will keep leaving regardless of Springbok eligibility and this happened in 2015 - 2017. Also rugby is not cricket. Cricket has 3 formats and T20 cricket is where the money is at. When it comes to club vs country the IPL is king but that wont happen because the international calendar does not clash with the club calendar in rugby. So the argument about rugby going down the same path as cricket is really a non-starter
22 Go to commentsNZ rugby seem not to have learnt anything from professional rugby. Super rugby was dying and SA left before they died with the competition. SA rugby did a u turn on their approach to international players playing overseas and such players are now selected for Bok teams. As much as each country would love to retain their players playing in local competitions, this is the way the world is evolving my friends. Move with it or stay 20 years behind the times. One more thing. NZ rugby hierarchy think they are the big cheese. Take a more humble approach guys. You do not seem to have your players best interests at heart.
8 Go to comments