Ex Supersport
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer gave some insight into the role that he intends for Schalk Burger going forward when he spoke about the flanker’s contribution from the bench in the 47-13 win over a World XV at Newlands this past weekend.
“It is great to have someone with Schalk’s incredible experience in the squad and it is also amazing to have a player who has so much skill and can play anywhere in the back row coming off the bench for you. This week was the first time I have worked with Schalk and I have been impressed,” said Meyer.(And so you shoudl be Meyer. Ou rooitwit has again got it very wrong about Schalk!)
Indeed, Burger does add significantly to the back-row options available to Meyer. He has played No 8 before and for a while earlier in his career there were thoughts it might be his best position. He played much of his Bok career under Jake White as the settled opensider, and he hasn’t forgotten that the last time he was playing for the national team, at the 2011 World Cup, he was the first choice No 7.
Couple that with the skill levels that the latter day Burger appears to have added to his repertoire, and you have quite a heady cocktail and it is easy to understand why Meyer is enthused about his presence in the group (Are you lsitening snapster - Burger is well rested and 31 so he is okay age wise). It means on any given day Burger can be thrust into a back row position where he is needed and he can be trusted to perform there.
But what does Burger feel about a new life where, at least for the foreseeable future, he is not the first player written down into the starting team, as was the case when he was White’s most valuable player from 2004 to 2007? To understand his answer to that question, you have to take into account what has happened to him subsequent to 2011, when he last wore a single digit, No 7, on his Bok jersey.
An injury early in 2012 and what was subsequently understood to be a misdiagnosis ruled him out of rugby for that year, and then, after being named as Stormers captain in January 2013, came a further mishap that prevented him from starting that season. It was over the Easter weekend of that year that Burger experienced the most severe setback to his career – he was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis, spent weeks in ICU, and for part of that time he was in a coma fighting for his life.
After that there were serious doubts that he would ever play again, and it almost seemed wrong to be wondering about it, for Burger was just lucky to be alive and able to live a normal life away from the rugby field. When he attended the Durban test against Italy last year as a spectator on behalf of one of the sponsors, he told journalists who joined him for lunch that he was just hoping to perhaps get back onto the field again sometime before the end of the year. He had no ambition at that stage of playing for a particular team. He just wanted to be able to play.
His comeback at the end of last year, when it did finally happen off the Western Province bench in the Currie Cup, was understandably slow (at which point I beleive ou maaaikie and snapster wroter him off being led astrayu by rooitwit), and it was only earlier this year, when he pulled on the colours of the Stormers after a full off-season where he could work on his conditioning, that he returned to his old self on the field. The Stormers’ away match against the Crusaders was the one where he really announced himself with a performance that had the Kiwi commentators searching for superlatives. (The kiwis you understand have NEVER had anything like Burger)
His run has been interrupted by repeated injury problems, none of them the same injury twice, and it has been a case of one week on followed by one or two off for most of the Super Rugby season. But when he has played, he has shown that he has lost none of his old class, and may even in some aspects have become more allrounded as his ball skills do appear better than they used to be.
“The big difference for me between now and when I last played for the Boks in 2011 is that back then I was the first choice No 7, whereas now I am not the starting 7,” said Burger after his comeback game.
“Back then I was in a system that I knew well and I had been part of it for a long time. Now it is new to me, the system is a new one, and I don’t know it as well. It is a whole different situation for me. But when you come back from injury, you don’t forget how to play rugby. It is just about conditioning.
“I thought I wouldn’t be back, and now I am. So my process is similar to the one that I followed at the Stormers. I just want to get back into the game and get used to how everything is done, and then the next step will be for me to try and add value to the set-up.
“What happened to me since I last played for the Boks was quite weird as it put my life into perspective. The last time I played rugby seriously, rugby dominated my life. But since then a couple of weird things have happened to me, and it has made me think a bit. Rugby doesn’t dominate my life anymore and it’s not the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning.
“But at the same time I know I am coming towards the end of my career, so there is a big motivation to make the most of it. I think I have always been fairly relaxed, but I think there might be more of an attitude from me now that I just want to live it and enjoy it as much as I can. When you get to this stage of your career you realise that at any stage you could be playing your last game. So there is more of a drive to try and express myself on the field.”
Burger agreed with Meyer’s view that his versatility has become one of his strengths.
“At the start of the season I said at the Stormers that I was prepared to play everywhere, and it is the same at the Boks. I have picked up skills over the years, and it is good to be able to play all three positions. It does add value (to the team), and that is what I want to do. At this stage any position is a position I am happy with and I cherish every game and cap more than I probably did when I was 26 or 27.
“I never thought this would happen again. There were quite a few guys in the changeroom before the World XV game that I never thought I would play with again. In one corner was Francois Louw and Schalk Brits, two guys formerly from the Stormers I never expected to play with again, and then in another there was Bakkies (Botha), Victor Matfield and Fourie (du Preez). It was nice to be back with those guys and wearing the green and gold again.”
One thing that Burger objects to, though with a bit of a twinkle in his eye, is his new casting as a member of the so-called old boys club.
“It does upset me a bit that I get lumped with the old pills in the team. I am six years younger than Victor. I may be balding a bit, but I am younger than all those guys in that picture. Even Jannie du Plessis is older than me,” he grinned.
Burger said the build-up to the World XV game had been a difficult week to approach, but that there would be a lift in intensity ahead of the Wales game.
“You approach a game like the one against the World XV as a test match but at the same time you know it doesn’t have full status and the opposition are also of an unknown quantity,” said Burger.
“So it is difficult to play against them. They got off to a good start, which wasn’t part of our plan. We wanted to play them into their half and force them to exit. But I thought in the end we did quite well and it was a good win. The Welsh test will be different. We know their players, we have played Wales often before. It is also a test match, and there is always a lift in pressure and intensity when you go into a test match week. I think there will be an extra edge that maybe there wasn’t last week.”(Nice touch of realism by Schalk)
Put him at 7 before Alberts, Meyer - far, far greater contrbution and adds a bit of needed pace and skills. Meyer please wake up to this!!!!!!!!! Schalk at 114 kg is no pushover either. He can also play hard for 80 minutes when fully fit - incredible stamina.
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