Cape Town - What a year Western Province flyhalf Robert du Preez has had. From being the Stormers’ starting No 10 to suffering a knee injury that ruined it all and, to top it off, being left out in the cold while seemingly being overtaken by Brandon Thomson for Currie Cup duty. It’s really been quite a season.
Du Preez injured his knee in week two of Super Rugby against the Cheetahs and only got another taste of Super Rugby action in the quarter-finals. But it wasn’t a sweet one, as the Stormers were thrashed 60-21 by the Chiefs at Newlands.
And as if things weren’t bad enough, WP coach John Dobson opted to hand the No 10 jersey over to Thomson after struggling displays by Du Preez in the Currie Cup.
But it didn’t go any better for Thomson, who was released to the Under-21s after he failed to impress Dobson, who believed Du Preez had more X-factor and he gave the son of former Springbok scrumhalf and current Sharks coach Robert du Preez another shot.
After all of that, Du Preez junior now believes he is finally reaching his peak again and building on the momentum that was so cruelly halted by injury.
“It’s never nice being, let’s say dropped’,” he said. “When I came back, I wanted to take that opportunity and just stay there.
“I tried to do everything in my power to stay there, and I will keep doing that week in and week out so that it doesn’t happen again, because it’s not the best feeling in the world. I’m very hard on myself. I just want to keep building and gaining more confidence.
“I think I’m slowly getting back into the space I was in at the beginning of the year. It wasn’t easy playing those first two games and building on some momentum, and then that injury came. But it’s getting back to where it was.”
After suffering defeats to the Blue Bulls and Free State Cheetahs, WP started feeling the pressure and no player felt it more than Du Preez, who failed to make a statement with inconsistent performances.
But against the Sharks, that all changed. He produced a first-class performance at Newlands that showed an improvement in his tactical game, and he also created three tries with his clever use of the boot.
Province, however, failed to deliver against the Golden Lions at Ellis Park last weekend as they were thumped 58-32 by Johan Ackermann’s men.
But Du Preez said that there was still some optimism in the Cape camp following the defeat and their disappearing playoff chances.
“No, look, we’re positive, we stay positive. Although our backs are to the wall. We were hurt after the weekend, obviously, and we came here yesterday with the mindset to fix it,” he said.
“If anyone watched our training, the boys were up for it. That was one of the better training sessions in years. So it’s remaining positive.”
And when asked if WP would try to find that form that they showed against the Sharks, Du Preez said: “I don’t think we need to change too much. I think from the hurt that we have after this weekend, the boys just want to fix what we did wrong and fix our defence.
“Against the Sharks we did get the bounce of the ball here and there and it didn’t go our way this (past) weekend, but I mean we just want to work on this weekend and next weekend and the week after that. And, hopefully, we get into the semis.”
WP face an easier task on Saturday when they host the second-from-bottom Pumas, who are winless this season.
However, WP can’t let go of any momentum they build this weekend, as the Griquas await them in Kimberley next week. But it’s another challenge that Du Preez is sure his team can overcome.
Cape Times