Cape Town – It has been a bit of a roller-coaster ride in 2016 for Nizaam Carr.
He was arguably one of the better loose forwards during the Stormers’ inconsistent Super Rugby campaign, but was overlooked by Springbok coach Allister Coetzee for the June Test series against Ireland.
Instead, he had to suit up for the South African A side against the England Saxons, and was one of the stand-out players at No 8 on a difficult night in Bloemfontein as SA A went down 32-24.
But then he picked up a shoulder injury while on duty for the Stormers in the first half of their win over the Rebels in Melbourne, and he was sidelined for a few weeks. Carr returned for the Super Rugby playoff against the Chiefs via the substitutes’ bench, but only played in the last 16 minutes, and has been out of action since.
The 25-year-old required an operation to find out exactly what the problem was with his shoulder, but was back on the field for Western Province in Saturday’s Currie Cup clash against the Pumas at Newlands after a six-week absence.
And he showed just what a battling WP side have been missing as he produced an outstanding display in the 31-23 victory. John Dobson’s side were far from their best at a windy and cold Newlands, but along with centre Huw Jones and wing Werner Kok, Carr was one of the few Cape players to enhance their reputations.
He was a willing ball-carrier, monstrous on defence and pulled off a number of terrific offloads in the tackle, one of which set up a try as he put Jones into a gap with a lengthy back-of-the-hand “Sonny Bill” special that ended with Kok going over in the corner.
Carr was all over the field in defence and attack, and he brought the necessary skill, tactical nous and steel to what has been an under-performing WP loose trio, to the extent that he even surprised his coach. “I was very chuffed. I didn’t expect him to last as long as he lasted. If a guy has been out for that amount of time, (he played) 70 minutes...” Dobson said after the game.
“I said our plan was that we didn’t think we’d get much more than a half out of Nemo, but then we said in the coaches’ box that ‘Geez, we can’t pull this guy off. He’s got to stay’.
“I think he showed a lot of class there and a lot of quality. Very, very pleased about Nemo. And he will be much better next week on that surface.”
Province face Griquas in Kimberley on Friday at 7pm in what is another must-win encounter if they hope to remain in contention for a semi-final spot. They moved up to fifth on 18 points with the bonus-point triumph over the Pumas, and a win at Griqua Park would see them leapfrog the hosts (19 points) into fourth spot, and they have the lowly Boland to deal with at Newlands on the final weekend of league action.
WP only have one injury worry in centre EW Viljoen, but Dobson said that Johnny Kotze would be back from injury if required.
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