Kobus Van Wyk is “a free spirit” and an independent thinker. And so, while the trend in South Africa sees big backs migrating towards the pack, Van Wyk has chosen to head in the opposite direction.
“Kobus is the wing that Western Province have been looking for, for some time,” Stormers backline coach and WP Under-21s boss Robbie Fleck said. “Since Sireli Naqelevuki left, we haven’t really had a big wing.”
Naqelevuki, the 1.93m, 113kg Fijian who started eight games on the Stormers’ right wing in 2010, scored tries against the Hurricanes, Chiefs and Crusaders to help catapult the Cape franchise into their only Super Rugby final to date.
Van Wyk (1.90m, 101kg) started his career much closer to the action, providing the blunt force in Paarl Gimnasium’s 10-12 axis in tandem with flyhalf Handré Pollard.
He represented WP at the 2010 Craven Week and lined up at inside centre for the U-19s the following season. Deployed at No 13 for the title-winning Baby Boks at the 2012 Junior World Championship, Van Wyk was one of three squad members invited to a Springbok planning camp that year.
But when Bryan Habana and Gerhard van den Heever took off for Europe at the end of 2013, the Stormers advanced into the 2014 Super Rugby season with limited wing options.
“When Kobus came into the Stormers mix, we didn’t quite know where to put him,” Fleck said. “He’s a free spirit and quite a unique character, and we placed him on the wing, totally out of his comfort zone, and really threw him into the deep end. Kobus survived, and then he just grew and grew.”
Van Wyk’s successful transition to the wing, as well as his value as an uncompromising finisher and physicality in the tackle fight, came as no surprise to WP fullback Cheslin Kolbe. The duo were teammates at Craven Week, in the WP juniors and at the SA U-20s.
“The first time I saw Kobus, he was running a 45 (a short line) off centre,” Kolbe said. “Most of the players know him as ‘Kudu’, because that’s what we call running a short, hard line off the flyhalf. He loves the physical stuff!”
Over the past two seasons, Van Wyk has worked on the technical elements of his game.
“He goes for extra-skills sessions after training so his dedication is there, and the attitude is there,” Fleck said.
“He’s still a work in progress, but he has so much talent that’s untapped. Kobus is there physically, he just needs to keep developing the brain side of the game because he’s got the raw power, skill and attitude.
“He has the ability to hit lines – he just comes off his right foot and cuts a brilliant line – and his ability to offload in the wide channel is an attribute that you want from a big right winger.”
Van Wyk’s potential didn’t escape Bok coach Heyneke Meyer, who included the 23-year-old in two national training camps earlier this year.
“That just shows that he’s an immense talent,” said Fleck, who believes Van Wyk possesses the physical tools required to win at the upper echelons of the game.
“The Stormers have tended to turn over too much ball in the wide channels and that’s something that Kobus is capable of (rectifying). What South Africa needs is quality, big wings with pace, and that’s what he’s got.”
“We need that at Western Province,” WP coach John Dobson added. “Especially to get through phases and win wide breakdowns – a guy like Kobus can buy you some time there, so he’s important to the kind of rugby we want to play.”
The kind of rugby that many Stormers fans identify with is what they remember of the New Zealand Super Rugby franchises. Frank Halai, Bryce Heem, Nemani Nadolo, Waisake Naholo and Julian Savea headline a long list of one-ton finishers in the Kiwi ranks.
JP Pietersen, the 106kg Bok wideman, has for years been South Africa’s only like-for-like response to such a wide, power threat. But that could be set to change – Van Wyk has the size, grit, work ethic and desire to emerge as Pietersen’s heir.