LONG READ Werner Kok: 'Stressful' Ulster limbo, Belfast love and a rogue fire extinguisher

For the first time in his career, Werner Kok is in limbo. Approaching the end of a scintillating campaign for Ulster, chasing glory in the URC and EPCR Challenge Cup, the 33-year-old is out of contract and unsure where his future lies.

He adores Belfast. So does his wife, Zanyika. After their first week in the city two years ago, Zanyika insisted they were going nowhere. They’d found their paradise. The people have embraced them since the moment they stepped off the plane. They are avid fans of the Belfast Giants ice hockey side, spend their evenings walking around the neighbourhood and their free weekends soaking up the natural beauty of Northern Ireland. On Wednesday, Kok was sampling the deep-dish delights at the new Flout! pizza joint which has taken Belfast by storm.

When life at home is so idyllic, the rugby takes care of itself. And tearing up and down the wing, straggly mane billowing behind him, ‘Tarzan’ has become a cult hero at Ravenhill. He’s an all-action warrior bearing the hallmarks of a sevens upbringing, and the traits which earned him his Ape Man nickname long ago. He’s also a cultural beacon, affable and entertaining and a source of inspiration to teammates and supporters alike. Fans would be loath to see him go, especially if it is some form of red tape rather than declining ability which sends him on his way.

This sort of chat raises hackles around the province. Ulster have been here before, remember, most notably when IRFU restrictions on non-Irish players forced the totemic Ruan Pienaar out of the club. This summer, Ulster may have to recruit from overseas in other positions while preserving a pathway for local talent. The upshot, for Kok, is a fretful waiting game.

“It is emotional and stressful,” he says. “It gets to you. There was a stage when you are not hearing from anyone, people are stalling, and you feel ‘I just shouldn’t get injured because if that happens, I’m not going to get anything’.

I always joke that I’ll only start worrying when the youngsters start catching up and they’re not. I feel better than ever.

“My agents are really trying and putting everything out there. The IRFU rule is a bit of a tough one. At this stage we are waiting for them to come back to us. We are pushing France, Japan, maybe the Prem. There is nothing on paper at the moment but it is still pretty early days in the market.”

Kok concedes his age may be a factor, though he does not move like an athlete on the wane. One try short of a career-high 10 for the season and the winner of player of the match awards, he is delivering some of his best, most dynamic stuff for a resurgent Ulster. If international wingers can’t get hold of him, what chance Father Time?

“I don’t think anything of age. I always joke that I’ll only start worrying when the youngsters start catching up and they’re not. Ma’a Nonu is a legend, still playing at 43 and showing age is just a number. He will be playing in a Champions Cup semi-final in two weeks. I almost think he still could be on the bench for the All Blacks.

“He is on a different level, but guys like that put it in perspective. It’s not your age; it’s how you look after yourself. The medical staff these days are phenomenal, then comes that personal responsibility to make sure your body is in good nick the whole time. Get in the ice bath, go for a massage, do your recovery.

“I must say, I feel better than ever. I can still go. I’m not going to put a timeframe on how long I’m going to play for, but I am still going to keep on pushing.”

 

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It is actually Zanyika who has incurred a more serious injury than anything Kok has suffered on the pitches of Europe and South Africa of late. A particularly boisterous night out with Marius Louw, Kok’s old pal from the Sharks, a couple of months back left her on crutches.

“Marius is one of those mates who, when he comes over, you know it’s going to be an awesome weekend. So we went out to the Dirty Onion pub with some live music because he’d never seen Irish music before. We were jumping up and down singing and her Achilles went. Luckily, she didn’t need an operation and is busy with her rehab. She is seeing the physio next week but trotting along like nothing has happened.

“She loves Belfast, this is one of the best moves we have made. I’m not away that much. We were touring with the Sharks for three to four weeks, three or four times a year, and that was tough. It is so good for our relationship here. We absolutely love it. It really feels like home.”

Rugby has been the couple’s ticket to travel the world. Sport unites South Africans like little else and as a boy, Kok tried as many as he could. Hockey, cricket, rugby, sprinting – whatever was offered, he threw himself into. Family holidays were spent in the Kruger National Park, or across the border in Mozambique, fishing in the summer or hunting game in winter. At home in Nelspruit, he dreamed of being an Olympian. Not in a Blitzboks jersey yet, since sevens had not been introduced to the Games, but on the track or field draped in green and gold.

I wasn’t fast enough [to be an Olympic sprinter] but I could throw a javelin quite well so that’s what I was thinking of.

“I wasn’t going to play rugby,” he says. “I always wanted to go to the Olympics but there is not an Olympic culture in our country. It was tough because you needed your own funding. I wasn’t fast enough [to be an Olympic sprinter] but I could throw a javelin quite well so that’s what I was thinking of.

“Then when I was 16, they announced sevens will be in the Olympics. I spoke to our school and we got sevens started there, and I tried to focus on it. At the end of school, there was nothing for me in rugby. I was supposed to go to Pretoria and study a degree in medical prosthetics. Just before I went, they announced there would be a Craven Week [South Africa’s top schools competition and a shop window for the very best talent] for sevens, and I made the Pumas team with Kwagga Smith. The SA Sevens coaches who ran the academy in Stellenbosch were there, and they picked me up and took me down to Cape Town.”

Kok ascribes much of his success to those years on the HSBC SVNS; the titles he claimed with South Africa, the Commonwealth gold in Glasgow and the intoxicating experience of bronze at the Rio Olympics. A sevens tournament is rugby’s Hell Week, exposing flaws in skillsets and deficient fitness levels like a bombastic Navy SEAL instructor excoriating his trainees. Here, Kok thrived. He was named sevens world player of the year in 2015, and seemed a shoo-in to star when rugby returned to the Olympics a year later. Then, fate cut him down.

“I didn’t have the easiest route to Rio. Seven months out, I ruptured my ACL. I pushed through that whole year, didn’t take a day off, didn’t drink anything for nine months. When I got selected it was overwhelming. It’s the biggest sporting pinnacle. Just getting there, being in the village doesn’t feel real until you actually compete and are seen as an Olympian. It is so much bigger than you think.

“I still, when I get home, open the safe and look at the medal to make sure it’s true, it wasn’t just a dream. It’ll be something I tell my kids and grandkids about.”

Sevens players follow the ‘work hard, play hard’ mantra. The series is a travelling jamboree and even at the Olympics, there was time for mischief. Kok tells a story about a bottle of whiskey, a fire extinguisher and an Australian with far too much bravado.

“We had an afterparty at a bar just outside the Village. We ordered a bottle of Jameson’s, the Australian team all came around and we offered them a drink. We poured Henry Hutchison a Jameson’s and he was mocking how little we’d put in his glass, so we topped it up – properly topped it up – then he walked away. ‘Where are you going? You can’t get a drink from us and take it and leave. You’re going to finish it here with us or down it.’ And he downs it. And this was a proper measure.

Kwagga went outside, got the fire extinguisher, pushed it under the door and just blew him up, smoked him. You’re not going to waste a drink we bought you.

“Half an hour later, probably less, me and Kwagga go to the bathroom and we just hear something going on in the cubicle. I think it was Henry’s brother who opened the door and said ‘it’s okay, he’s just sick’. We were like, ‘is that Henry? The bugger, we just gave him the drink and now he’s wasting it.’ Kwagga went outside, got the fire extinguisher, pushed it under the door and just blew him up, smoked him. You’re not going to waste a drink we bought you. But afterwards it was all good, he was good craic. It probably hit him so hard because he is so ripped – not an ounce of fat on that guy.”

Talk about blowing off steam. Ten years on, Kok is reaching for more memories and more medals. Ulster have emerged from the tumult of last season a reinvigorated force. They have a settled staff providing clarity and conviction. From 14^th place last term, Richie Murphy has guided them to third in the URC and the Challenge Cup semi-finals, where they have home advantage against Exeter Chiefs. On Friday night, they welcome Leinster to Belfast for a whopper of an interpro, a single point clear of the Dublin juggernaut.

“We started the pre-season with basics and how we want to play,” Kok says. “The fact the whole coaching staff was in place, one voice in every single position. The experience a lot of the guys built up throughout last season, in a way we learned more from the losses than we did from the wins. That also gave a bad taste in our mouth where we don’t want to be in that position again. We have a bit of a revenge mindset to really go at every team this year. Everyone bought in so much better.

“Mark Sexton came in and fixed some small things which made a big impact on our attack. One goal – it sounds cheesy, but it’s been working for us. Don’t doubt the plan. It feels good when you play like that.

“If we can get home quarters, home semis in the URC and fill out our stadium, everyone will get that confidence to really push, and that will carry over into next season. Personally, scoring tries doesn’t mean that much to me – points for the team are what matters. I just want to be in those finals, and bring a cup home for the boys.”

Since Ulster have not won a trophy in 20 years and three iterations of the URC, that would be quite the swansong. Tarzan and Jane, though, hope there are still more chapters to be written here.