Wise words from Eales
Wallabies great’s rugby excellence scholarship pays off in many ways
WHEN P.J. Van den Berg succumbed to a “crushing” long-term knee injury, the last thing he might have expected was a phone call from arguably the greatest player to pull on a Wallabies jersey.
The talented flanker and student had been eagerly building up his fitness and ball skills by playing in the Bond University social touch football competition on the Gold Coast when a seemingly innocuous moment would rule him out of any rugby in 2016 before the pre-season had even begun.
“It happened in the last play of the last game of the touch season,” he said.
“I was just running and changed direction … as my foot slipped and then gripped again, I just felt my knee click.”
Soon his physio would give him the bad news – it appeared to be a tear of the anterior cruciate ligament.
“It was crushing. I pretty much bawled my eyes out for the rest of the day,” Van den Berg said with a laugh.
Within 48 hours, his spirits were lifted considerably when John Eales’ name lit up on the screen of his phone.
“He gave me a call and was just checking in on me, so that was pretty special I thought,” said the 21-year-old, who moved from South Africa to the Tweed Coast at age four.
“He just talked me through it and talked to me about some of his experiences with injuries with his shoulder and things like that.”
Van den Berg had been a 2015 recipient of Bond’s John Eales Rugby Excellence Scholarship, paving the way for him to play for the Robina campus’ club as well as study a Bachelor of Biomedical Science.
Eales was at Bond yesterday to address his scholarship winners from various years.
He and Van den Berg have remained in regular contact since his injury struck. The latter proudly contacted the World Cup-winning former Australian captain upon making his long-awaited game day comeback 16 months after his knee reconstruction.
Even if deep down he is a Springboks fan, Van den Berg yesterday still couldn’t put into words how much Eales’ latest visit meant to him and the scholarship group.
He has spent the season regaining momentum in Bond’s reserves – stuck behind premier No.7 Joel Brown – and is “itching” to earn a top grade debut. Between those aspirations, he is due to graduate from his degree this year and will keep pressing on with his passion in the health and medicine field.
Eales, a former University of Queensland student, emphasised the importance of balancing on and off-field ambitions to produce “wellrounded” rugby players and, more importantly, people.
With Australian rugby enduring a tough time, Eales said it was crucial to develop the next generation such as Van den Berg and his Bond peers.
“There is a lot of young talent out there – we need to make sure that we nurture that talent so they have the opportunity to play at all levels of the game whether it be club, provincial or national,” he said.