Human refused to miss home tournament
SPOTLIGHT: Despite being ill ahead of the tournament, BlitzBok playmaker Dewald Human was determined to contribute to his team’s success in the HSBC Cape Town SVNS.
Human suffered from a stomach bug and had to make a final call whether or not he felt good to go to play in the BlitzBoks’ successful tournament this past weekend.
“I had a bit of diarrhoea on Friday so I didn’t go to captain’s run, so coach [Philip Snyman] said I must make a call to play this weekend.
“Saturday morning I still felt a bit sick, but we’re here for the team, we’re here to pull through to Cape Town and I’m just proud of the guys to pull this one through.”
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Human spoke about the squad’s character and attitude despite not getting the six-peat in Dubai last weekend.
“Coach Philip [Snyman] had a plan at the start of the season and to not speak negatively about the system and South African Rugby but to just be positive.
“Even though we didn’t do well in Dubai, everyone in the system spoke positively and I think the results this weekend carried us through.”
Despite the format change due to player welfare, where teams were grouped together in four pools of three teams each – with the pool winner advancing straight to the semifinals, the attitude in the BlitzBoks camp remained positive.
“Despite the format change for this tournament [Cape Town], no one complained and just said we’ll take every game as it comes and I think we owed South Africa for 10 years.
“We finally did it and I’m very proud of the whole system, and not just the 12 of us [matchday squad] but the supporters that came out, we couldn’t have done it without them.”
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Human also opened up on what the Final victory meant to him and his family.
“To be honest, my mom phoned me on Saturday evening and my brother-in-law messaged me saying they know why I’m doing this and despite not being at home much, they know what’s the plan to play in this jersey and represent my country.”
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