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'RG got the worst of it'- Damian De Allende on aftermath of firepit explosion

By PA
(Photos by Getty Images)

South Africa centre Damian De Allende admits he is lucky to be playing rugby again after a firepit explosion.

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De Allende and international team-mate RG Snyman suffered burns in the incident last month, but he has recovered sufficiently to force his way back into the Springboks team for the opening Test against the British and Irish Lions in Cape Town on Saturday.

He accepts the outcome could have been far worse.

“I think RG got the worst of it,” he said. “He has gone through a lot at the moment, I got lucky and I am just glad it wasn’t worse. I can also say I am just glad I got to play rugby again.

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“After it happened I did go into a bit of shock and I was in hospital on morphine and it was tough. When it wore off the pain started to kick in and it really struck me how bad it was and how much worse it could have been and how lucky I had been.

“I am very grateful I got through some good game minutes over the last week. It was tough to play two games in a week, I haven’t done that for quite a long time but it was good.”

De Allende featured for South Africa A in the warm-up match against the Lions last week, and is one of 21 of the World Cup-winning squad from 2019 named in Jacques Nienaber’s 23-man party to face the tourists.

He says that familiarity may help counter their disrupted preparation – with 14 players having tested positive for Covid-19 during the pre-series training camp.

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South Africa have also not played a Test match since the World Cup final but De Allende believes previous shared experience will stand them in good stead.

“Obviously we haven’t played together since the World Cup, but we know our relationships on the field and off the field are still very good,” he said.

“And not just the guys who are playing this weekend or the guys that are starting on the bench, but the guys that are missing out as well.

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“It has been great that there is still a bit of consistency in the squad and I think that makes a massive difference. It almost allows us to be ourselves and fit in naturally again.”

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J
Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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