'As long as the body goes and feels good, why stop?'
WP Nel insisted he will keep playing until his body tells him otherwise as he outlined his pride at going to a third World Cup with Scotland aged 37.
The Edinburgh prop went to the 2015 and 2019 tournaments and will now be among the oldest players at the showpiece in France.
Nel has won 57 caps for Scotland and has displayed his ongoing ability to compete at Test level when starting in strong away performances against England and France this year.
The South Africa-born tighthead – who is likely to play second fiddle to Zander Fagerson at the World Cup – has no solid plans to retire any time soon.
“I don’t know, there will come a time when the body will say ‘enough is enough’ but at this moment to go through a pre-season like I’ve done, the body still feels good enough,” he told the PA news agency.
“If I was to ask my wife, she would probably say ‘right, after the World Cup you are done’ because the family make massive sacrifices, but body-wise I’m happy to go on.
“I don’t know how the future will look but as long as the body goes and feels good, why stop? The body can easily just stop, so to be able to do what I love to do, to compete against the best at this age, is definitely something I’m proud of.
“When I got the call to say I was in the World Cup squad, I needed to pinch myself. Just the achievement, that the body is still able to keep going, for me it is a massive honour to go to a third World Cup.”
Nel has contemplated retirement in the past and has even had chats with head coach Gregor Townsend about his future in the national team after worrying about whether he could still bring something to the party.
“The biggest one was in 2016 when I had my neck injury,” he said, recalling previous occasions where he was ready to call it quits. “That was a big scare for me. I thought ‘that’s probably it’. But after that, not really.
“In the last couple of years there were a couple of times when I maybe wasn’t involved as much and I went to Gregor and said ‘listen, I think it’s time (to retire from Scotland)’ because I felt there were younger boys who needed the exposure, but he said ‘no, there’s still a lot from you to come in a Scotland jersey’.
“It’s just a case of getting your head round it and realising ‘right, I’m still good enough’.”
Nel qualified for Scotland on residency grounds three years after joining Edinburgh from Cheetahs in his homeland in 2012.
He will find himself up against his birth country in his team’s first pool match of the tournament when the Scots face South Africa in Marseille on Sunday week.
Nel insisted he never had any boyhood dreams of representing the Springboks and now considers himself as “passionate” about Scotland as any of his team-mates.
“Honestly, if I look back, as a young boy I never watched rugby,” he explained.
“I started playing rugby when I was 14. When I got the opportunity to come to Edinburgh, it was awesome to get to know the Scottish people.
“When I got the first call-up in 2015 to be part of the Scottish squad, you had Greig Laidlaw and (Stuart) Hoggy and all of those guys and it was so easy to get caught up with the passion the Scottish people and the players have. It overflows.
“The passion I have for Scotland at this moment is probably more than I would have back home. Me and the family are talking constantly about what’s next after I finish playing rugby and we definitely see ourselves staying in Scotland for the future.”
Nel believes the current Scotland side – ranked fifth in the world – is the most vibrant he has been involved in.
“Every team I’ve been part of has had different strengths but this team is definitely the most exciting team to be part of,” he said.
“There’s so much versatility in this team. From my eyes, to be part of this squad and see the younger boys performing and what they can bring to the game, it’s exciting.
“If we can bring our game and we are all on it, it’s going to be an exciting World Cup for us.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Let’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
4 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
4 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to comments