Dewald Potgieter - FNB Player of the Week
Captain of SA Schools
Dewald Potgieter is a young man of enormous talent, and he is the captain of the South African Schools side.
That he is the captain is no surprise. When he was at Charlo Primary School in Port Elizabeth, on the southern side of the city beyond Walmer, he captained his schools team and for two years the Eastern Province team at the Craven Week.
From Charlo he went to Daniël Pienaar in Uitenhage and captained teams on the way up. In Std 8 (Grade 10) he captained the Eastern Province Under-16 team at the Grant Khomo Week in Johannesburg. In Std 9, when he was still Under-17, he captained the Eastern Province Schools team at Craven week, an unusual honour for the Std 9 boy. This year he captained them again and has been chosen to captain South African Schools. He will do it well.
He is the top academic student at Daniel Pienaar and the head boy of the school, a position which he sees as an honour and a challenge. Oh, and he is an allrounder in the 1st XI – a middle-order batsman and quick bowler. "At primary school, my cricket was better than my rugby. Now if I were to choose between the two, I'd choose rugby."
Come easy to him?
He says: "Because I was small I had to work harder. At the Under-13 Craven Week I was the second smallest forward." Between last year's Craven Week and this one I put on 14 kg." The hard work has paid off as, size or no size, he was clearly one of the strongest players at the 2005 Craven Week.
He is rightly proud of his team. At present Daniël Pienaar are ranked 11th on the FNB Top 20, level with Boland :Landbou. He says: "They're a brilliant team with a great spirit. The guys really play for each other."
There is also obvious talent with four players in the Eastern :Province team which played in the main match on the final day and two players in the Eastern Province schools side. Besides Dewald, centre Luthando Show, flyhalf Shaun Davids and lock/flank Vincent Gwavu played for Western Province. Vincent was also chosen for SA Schools.
Her ascribes his success to his coaches – Hendrik Janse van Rensburg at Charlo who also coached the Eastern Province Under-13 Craven Week team ("He had a great love and passion for the game") and Moolman Olivier at Daniël Pienaar ("A man who stands by his team") and also Wessel Vosloo who enabled him to make the transition from flank to eighthman. In his rugby he gives lots of credit to Daniël Pienaar and its great rugby tradition and also to all things in general. "Without Daniël Pienaar I would never have achieved what I have achieved."
Next year? He is going to the Blue Bulls. They gave him a contract after the 2004 Craven Week in Nelspruit. They clearly spot talent well.
Leaving PE? "I'd like to stay. I'd like to be perhaps a part of getting Eastern Province rugby on top again but at the moment things are too mixed up."
The Blue Bulls also give him the opportunity to study further, and his interest is in industrial psychology. "I want to work with people."
His hero? Corné Krige. "I admired the way he led by example and the way he got through difficulties and fought his way back."
Dewald Johan Potgieter, predictably nicknamed Pottie, was born in Port Elizabeth on 22 February 1987. Because his parents have moved to East London, he is a boarder at Daniël Pienaar.
For a general view of HTS Daniël Pienaar, click here.
For a profile of the Daniël Pienaar team, click here.
