He has been nicknamed ‘The Rock’, ‘The Great Duane’ and ‘Thor’ at different stages of his long career, but on Saturday in Pretoria, Duane Vermeulen was simply Meneer.
The 52 000 who crammed into Loftus Versfeld to see the Springboks wallop the Wallabies in the Rugby Championship opener.
On the day before the match, Vermeulen had been asked at the captain’s press conference if at 37 he saw himself as playing a 30-minute cameo at the start of a match or at its finish.
He grinned and said: “Why don’t I just play the whole 80? I feel great. For the first time in years, I have no strapping. The niggles are gone.”
Vermeulen would play most of the match and made more successful tackles than any of his teammates. He crashed the ball up 10 times, making 32 metres.
“I had a ball out there,” Vermeulen beamed at the postmatch media conference.
“At this stage of my career, I am cherishing every second of every minute because I know it can’t go on forever.
“I would love to keep on playing, but you realise that your time will run out,” he explained.
“You don’t know when your last game will be. I just try to enjoy every moment.”
Vermeulen was asked where this big win featured in his list of all-time favourites.
“Wow, that is a big question.
Sjoe, this win, it ticks a different box, it’s one that’s hit close to my heart. It was a special performance and a special group of people that are involved.
“With this group of players, I really do feel like I’m 27 again,” said Vermeulen.
“The guys push you, be it in the discussions off the field or the play on it. If you’re in this squad, you must pull your weight. The positive energy we experience from each other is amazing. We’re really pulling in one direction towards one big goal. It’s very cool.”
Vermeulen was in a group of 21 players who left Johannesburg for Auckland yesterday afternoon, as was the front row from the Aussie game of Steven Kitshoff, Frans Malherbe and Bongi Mbonambi, plus backs Manie Libbok, Lukhanyo Am, Cobus Reinach and Grant Williams.
That means coach Jacques Nienaber will have 35 players to work with ahead of Saturday’s match against the All Blacks.
A group of 13 players travelled to New Zealand last Tuesday, which included injured skipper Siya Kolisi and a few team management members, while Bulls prop Gerhard Steenekamp made the journey on Wednesday as an injury replacement for Ox Nche, taking the number of players in New Zealand to 14.
Nienaber, Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus and assistant coach Felix Jones departed for New Zealand immediately after the Pretoria battle on Saturday night, which will allow them to get down to business on the field from today, giving them a whole week of training.
“It was always part of our planning that some of the players who ran out against Australia would travel to New Zealand, and given some impressive performances today, we decided to take a few more players than we originally planned for,” said Erasmus.
“We now have the luxury of having a bunch of fresh of players to work with in New Zealand from Monday, and they’ll be joined by a group who have experienced the physicality of Australia and who can add energy and momentum at training from Tuesday.
“We’ll analyse the match on our journey to New Zealand and then announce our team to face the All Blacks on Tuesday.”
@MikeGreenaway67