When Duane Vermeulen was asked about some of his highlights over the course of his 99 Super Rugby caps, he sat forward and rubbed his beard, whilst deep in thought.
It must have felt like an eternity for the Stormers captain to answer the question, but he couldn’t come up with one.
Part of the reason that big No8 couldn’t come up with any highlights is because he missed two crucial semi-final matches for the Stormers against the Crusaders and the Sharks because of injury. In both those matches his immense presence was missed and the Cape franchise lost.
Tomorrow, though, he runs out for the 100th time in a Super Rugby match when the Stormers take on the Blues. And maybe it’s a chance to create some memories and highlights that he can look back on when he retires.
Especially as his side surprised everybody by beating the Bulls at Loftus in their first match of the campaign last Saturday. Suddenly, this had the hugely influential loose forward talking about competing for silverware.
“I can’t really think of a highlight, just being able to play 100 games is a massive thing,” Vermeulen said. “But there is still a long way to go and a competition to win.
“It wasn’t really a focus to get to a hundred games; it’s just to play the game that I really want to play, and play the game that I love that has been great.”
Vermeulen’s value to the Stormers is priceless, and his teammates would definitely want to give their captain a win to celebrate his 100th cap.
However, milestone matches are often lost because of that sort of distraction, as the emotion of the day tends to get at a lot of players. However, Vermeulen says his achievement will not distract the Stormers when they run onto Newlands at 5pm tomorrow. “I don’t know what the reason is that most guys are on the losing side in their 100th match,” Vermeulen said.
“There has not been any focus on that this week as the team is concerned. It’s a nice milestone, but our focus is to beat the Blues; that’s definitely in our sights.”
There is certainly going to be heightened expectations at Newlands this weekend following the Stormers top start against the Bulls.
Their clinical display against a Springbok-laden Bulls team has given the Cape faithful more than just a little optimism going forward.
The Stormers haven’t made the play-offs over the last few seasons, and the hungry Cape rugby public is looking for some Super Rugby cheer.
Vermeulen is confident they can handle the pressure.
“We are not worried about what gets said out there, we are just worried about ourselves and what we have to do pitch up (tomorrow),” he said.
“We are going to play our own game, whether it’s a running game or a kicking game.
“We have our goals and our stuff we want to achieve.” - The Star