'Starting honour' fires up V/d Merwe
The FNB Maties’ new Varsity Cup inside centre, Stephan van der Merwe, is relishing the opportunity to earn consistent starts for the Men at Maroon – a chance that he describes as a ‘real honour’.
Having replaced the injured Dabeon Draghoender in the crucial inside centre position for last Monday’s 31-15 win over Shimlas, Van der Merwe performed like a seasoned professional at the Danie Craven Stadium.
His coach Chean Roux was quick to sing his praises afterwards – in conversation with varsitycup.co.za – and the Maties breier was true to his word by once again naming Van der Merwe in the No.12 shirt for this coming Monday’s clash with FNB Tuks in Stellenbosch.
“It’s an honour to start any match for the Maties,” said Van der Merwe, “it’s a successful club with a rich history, and plenty of tradition, and I consider myself very fortunate to be starting again this week.”
Van der Merwe is now in his third season at Stellenbosch and, also, his third year of first team rugby. However, the game against Shimlas was his first-ever Varsity Cup start and he is relishing the current opportunities coming his way.
He added: “Starting a game is very different to coming off the bench. I really enjoyed starting against Shimlas and my intention is to play well enough to stay in the starting team for the rest of the season.”
With these starting opportunities coming his way at present, the 21-year-old – who was born in De Aar – believes that his consistency is his strongest asset as a rugby player, but he is quick to add that communication is another important skill needed in the game of rugby.
“I don’t think I’m the flashiest player around, but I like to use my skills to make things happen and I’ve also worked very hard at my kicking to take the pressure off my flyhalf.”
Of course this week – against Tuks, in Round Five of the FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International – Van der Merwe will partner André Kemp in the crucial 10-12 channel, with in-form halfback Conrad Hoffmann having moved up to the Western Province Vodacom Cup squad.
Speaking about the new man Kemp, Van der Merwe said: “He’s a great player and he’s done some good things for the Western Province Under-21 team in the past.
“I’ve played with him before, so I’m not worried about our communication – something he’s actually very good at, as he’s a great talker. He has plenty of skills too and he likes attacking, so I’m very excited about playing on his outside.”
Maties and Tuks have had some interesting tussles in the now three-year history of the Varsity Cup.
Their first-ever league clash in this tournament produced a heart-stopping 31-31 draw, before the Maties put one over them in an even more exciting semifinal tussle that went into extra-time.
Last year, Tuks put one over Maties, 25-23 in Stellenbosch – but the Men in Maroon got revenge the following week in the semifinals when they crushed them 38-14.
“I don’t think one can look back at previous encounters and use that as a yardstick… No matter what, Monday is going to be a tough game and we need to go into the match with the proper mindset – otherwise Tuks will be all over us,” said Van der Merwe.
“We’ve been lucky in that we’ve picked up bonus point wins in all our games thus far, but it’s all about securing the victory, first and foremost, and then getting the four-try bonus point – if it’s still possible.
“Last week (against Shimlas) we got our fourth try in injury-time and we’d certainly settle for that – but, to be fair, we’ll be happy with just a regular win come Monday.”
* Monday’s Maties-Tuks Varsity Cup match kicks-off at 4.30pm and will be televised live on SuperSport One.
