World Cup winner Faf De Klerk explains the reason why his game has gone to another level
South Africa’s World Cup winner Faf De Klerk says playing his club rugby in England has helped take his game to a new level.
The 28-year-old scrum-half played a key role in the Springboks’ successful World Cup campaign, culminating in a 32-12 victory over England in Yokohama three weeks ago, but suggests that would not have been possible without his stint at Sale.
De Klerk took a huge gamble by signing for the Premiership club ahead of the 2017-18 season because at the time it made him ineligible for his country but a change in the rules paved the way for his recall and he has not looked back since.
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And, as he prepares to return for the Sharks’ Heineken Champions Cup clash with La Rochelle at the AJ Bell Stadium on Sunday, De Klerk insists there is more to come from him.
“I always think you can improve,” he said. “There’s never been a time when you can say anything is perfect.
“Hopefully I can get even better for the club. I’ve spoken about how Sale handed me a lot more responsibility.
“The conditions in England are up and down and you need to learn to play in all sorts of conditions. Learning to adapt quickly was a massive part of that,
“I’ve learned a lot more skills, game-management and things like that – back in South Africa, I wouldn’t have refined those skills so much. It’s helped me a lot.”
The Springboks returned to South Africa to a heroes’ welcome and six days of celebrations which will live with De Klerk forever.
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“I can’t really describe it,” he said. “When we got off the plane, it was amazing.
“It felt like everyone in South Africa was there. It was amazing to be a part of it and amazing to see what it means to them all.
“To see people crying, people uniting and all types of races coming together was incredible.
“You could see it in their eyes, how much it meant to them. There were people who didn’t have television sets to watch the games but they found a way.
“A lot of people said it was similar to the 1995 World Cup win but, in a sense, it’s almost bigger for what it means to people.
“So many of us came from humble beginnings and to get to this now it shows that it can give a lot of hope to a lot of youngsters, that you can come from poverty and make it. To inspire people is the main thing.”
De Klerk, along with England flanker Tom Curry, will be back down to earth on Sunday when they pull on their club shirts but the South African does not expect to have any problem readjusting as he sets his sights on more silverware.
“Not difficult at all,” he said. “We’ve got different goals here and different standards we want to get to.
“We want to be a top-four side in all competitions and that’s a new goal for me. We want to win the Premiership.
“Our focus shifts to that quite quickly. We play this weekend and I’m back to it and hopefully I can add to the team.
“I need to add to the team because that’s why I’m here and there are new goals for me now.”
The Season with Hamilton Boys High School – Episode 2:
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Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments