Cape Town - For Duane Vermeulen, earning his 100th Super Rugby cap at Newlands on Saturday is a very distant second to his objective of beating the Blues.
“There has not been any focus on that,” Vermeulen said, emphasising the word “any”. “It’s a nice milestone, but our focus is to win the game and it’s to beat the Blues.
“Being able to play 100 games is a massive thing, but there’s still a lot to go and there’s a competition to win.
“It wasn’t ever my focus to play 100 games, my focus was just to play the game I want to play, and play the game I love.”
Tiaan Liebenberg has had front-row seats to most of Vermeulen’s career, including 99 Super Rugby matches, 29 Tests for South Africa, and more recently being named SA Rugby’s 2014 player of the year, players’ player of the year and Super Rugby player of the year.
The veteran Stormers hooker, who hung up his boots at the end of last year, believes such milestones are not the driving force behind Vermeulen’s emergence as one of South Africa’s most powerful ball-carriers and relentless defenders, and also an outstanding leader.
“I had the privilege to play with him for a lot of those games,” Liebenberg told Weekend Argus. “We’ve been roommates since the 2009 Currie Cup season and, if I wasn’t injured, we were roommates at the Springboks, the Stormers and Western Province – that’s when you get to know someone really, really well.
“When I played, I would get motivated by thinking about my kids and playing for the Springboks. I could never put my finger on what motivated Duane, and when I asked him he would just say that he’s got something else that motivates him, but he would never tell me what it was.
“When he won those awards, it became clear to me that that’s what has, and always will, motivate him. Duane wants to be the best eighthman in the world.”
After New Zealand won the 2011 World Cup, rugged All Black loose forward Jerome Kaino was shortlisted for the IRB player of the year award. He will lead the Blues on to Newlands in the No 8 jersey on Saturday.
“Duane is a great player and a great person, I know without a doubt that he’ll lead by example,” Kaino said earlier this week. “I’m looking forward to butting heads with him.”
“Duane will definitely be targeted by the Blues in a game like this, and I’m sure it will be Jerome’s job to take care of him,” said Liebenberg. “I’ve got a lot of respect for Jerome, he’s one of the best in the world, but to look after a guy like Duane is not easy.”
In Pretoria last week, Vermeulen forced two crucial turnovers, grounded four runners, carried the ball nine times, fielded three kicks, took a ball in the lineout, and captained the Stormers to a 29-17 season-opening win against the Bulls.
“Duane is the first one to tell you he’s not the best communicator in front of the media, but he is a guy who leads by example. He’s got an unbelievable rugby brain and a deep knowledge of the game, and that makes it quite easy for him to lead from the front, because you don’t need to ask questions, all you need to do is follow him.
“He’s the kind of guy that demands respect without really saying a lot, and that’s why I think the youngsters at the Stormers are responding to him.
“He’s very unlucky not to have become a Springbok a long time ago. I’m very proud of him for everything he’s achieved in the last year; it’s been a long time coming.”
It’s been three years since the Stormers reached the play-offs and the occasion of Vermeulen’s 100th Super Rugby appearance may hold the key to ending that absence.
Some would say it’s too early in the year to be using the p-word, but that’s only for those who think that the title contenders are determined in the latter rounds of the competition which, in the Stormers’ case, doesn’t appear to be true.
The Cape franchise has made five trips to the knockout rounds – in 1999, 2004 and 2010 to 2012. In each of those years, the Stormers began their campaign with back-to-back wins.
They have never failed to advance after winning their first two matches.
The relevance of Vermeulen’s milestone is that only two of the four players who have made their 100th Super Rugby appearance in a Stormers jersey marked the achievement with a win. Bryan Habana (2012) and Peter Grant (2014) celebrated becoming centurions with a victory, while a loss muted the career-highlight for Jean de Villiers (2014) and Andries Bekker (2013).
“Duane’s got a huge milestone coming up and I’m sure the Stormers boys will want to play well for him,” added Kaino. “As you saw last year, the season he had, he was very influential in the Springbok jersey. And he showed last week just how influential he is for the Stormers.”
STORMERS:15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Johnny Kotze, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Dillyn Leyds, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Duane Vermeulen (captain), 7 Michael Rhodes, 6 Rynhardt Elstadt, 5 Ruan Botha, 4 Jurie van Vuuren, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Steven Kitshoff. Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Oli Kebble, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Siya Kolisi, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Kurt Coleman, 23 Huw Jones
BLUES:15 Charles Piutau, 14 Ben Lam, 13 Hamish Northcott, 12 Francis Saili, 11 Tevita Li, 10 Ihaia West, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Jerome Kaino (captain), 7 Brendon O'Connor, 6 Steven Luatua, 5 Josh Bekhuis, 4 Hayden Triggs, 3 Angus Ta’avao, 2 James Parsons, 1 Tony Woodcock. Replacements: 16 Matt Moulds, 17 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Patrick Tuipulotu, 20 Luke Braid, 21 Jamison Gibson-Park, 22 Dan Bowden, 23 Lolagi Visinia
Referee: Craig Joubert.
Kick-off:5.05pm.
Weekend Argus