For WP Nel it is not just another game
INTERVIEW: It is a United Rugby Championship quarterfinal, which makes individual perpetrations and bournes irrelevant.
For Willem Petrus Nel Saturday’s quarterfinal between Edinburgh and the Stormers is all about ‘the team’, even though there is a strong Scotland versus South Africa feeling to the forward battle.
Nel, 36, spoke of the ‘excitement’ of running out at the Green Point-based stadium in Cape Town.
“Given where we started the season, it is really important for us to produce a good performance,” Nel told a pre-match media scrum.
“We know what is at stake.”
However, for Nel, with 38 Test caps for Scotland and appearing in the last two World Cup tournaments, fronting up to the Stormers behemoths Steven Kitshoff and Frans Malherbe adds additional spice to an already fiery contest.
“It is going to be a big battle on Saturday,” said the veteran, who played for Western Province and Boland, before moving to the Cheetahs and from there on to Scotland in 2012.
“They have a very powerful set of forwards and have performed very well this season.
“It is obviously the Springbok props,” he said, adding: “It is something I am looking forward to – a really good contest.
“We will have to be on top of our game.”
Speaking of his early years, he said he has some “good memories” of also playing club rugby in Cape Town.
However, this week there won’t be much time for reminiscence or harking to his departure to Edinburgh and Scotland a decade ago.
“Everything in my career kicked off in Cape Town,” Nel said, adding: “I played a lot for Durbell [club] here as well.
“Training here, I have had a lot of good flashbacks and memories of playing.
“It is a big game, but it is also nice to know that this is where everything started.
“It will be nice to play here on Saturday and hopefully have a good game.
“I am glad about what Edinburgh has done for me and want to do my best for the team.”
Nel has been around the Scottish team long enough to experience the knockout heartaches.
Edinburgh’s win over Bath in April in the last 16 of the Challenge Cup was their first victory in a knockout game for seven years.
Before that they lost five quarterfinals and a one semifinal.
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Those are lessons they have taken to heart.
“When it comes to knockout stages you have to be on it,” said the prop.
“In the past we have been a little bit not well prepared.
“We have looked at how we prepare for this game.
“It is not just another game, it is a really important game for us, but we can’t focus on the occasion.”
“We need to focus on what we can do and what we have done this whole season.
“We just have to play rugby and impose our game on them.”
Having ended the regular season seventh on the URC table, Edinburgh face a daunting task against a Stormers side that finished second after a slow start to the season.
The sides drew 20-all when they met in Edinburgh back in October and the form book dictates that the Cape Town outfit will start as big favourites on home soil.
Not that Nel is paying much attention to what the bookmakers think.
“Favourites? I don’t know about that,” he retorted.
“They have home ground advantage and that obviously counts for a bit.
“I don’t think it is a surprise because they have top-quality players.”
@rugby365com
