A reward for perseverance
The road to becoming Crusader No 213 has been far from smooth for Vernon Fredericks. The Marlborough-based loose forward, who made his debut for the Super Rugby leaders off the bench in Suva on Friday night, has had to dodge some serious pot-holes along the way.
A semi-professional player, who works for a scaffolding company in Blenheim, the 26-year-old has toiled away with the Tasman Makos since 2010, originally as a hooker, then in a variety of loose forward roles.
Injuries have hindered his progress, especially a potentially career-ending problem in 2015. After being concussed in a club game in April, doctors discovered a two centimetre cyst in his brain and operated immediately. By August he had recovered sufficiently to be named in the Makos playing side, making a powerful return off the bench against Manawatu and providing one of the feel-good stories of the season.
Following a solid, rather than spectacular, 2016 Mitre 10 Cup campaign Fredericks returned to the club scene, leading the Moutere side before being called south earlier this month to train with the Crusaders as their loose forward ranks began to thin.
Even then, Fredericks didn’t hold much hope of getting on the field for the All Black-laden side, meaning his callup for Suva came out of the blue.
On Wednesday he was in Blenheim preparing to play in a Makos trial game when he received a message telling him to hop on a plane to the Islands as back-up for the Kiwi conference leaders.
He flew out the following day and was told upon arrival at 9pm that he would be sitting on the bench after Matt Todd’s late withdrawal, bringing his dream of becoming a Crusader closer to reality.
With seven minutes of Friday’s torrid encounter with the Chiefs left, the call came to enter the fray.
It was, as Fredericks recalled, something of a shock.
‘‘It all happened pretty quickly. I was excited to get on, especially in one of [the Crusaders] biggest matches and right after [the Chiefs] had scored.’’
He enjoyed his short stint on the field, noticing the increased speed of the game but glad that he could count on his team-mates. ‘‘Everyone does their own job, all you have to do is worry about your part.’’
He recalled some nerves as he prepared to go on, but recalled the words of vastly-experienced lock Sam Whitelock who told him to forget about everything else when he got out there and ‘‘just go hard’’. ‘‘That was all I thought about,’’ said Fredericks.
It has been the popular player’s long-term goal to play Super Rugby and he was delighted to get off the mark, especially surrounded by eight of his Tasman team mates, plus Makos coach Leon Macdonald.
‘‘Razor and the boys all said they were stoked that I had got my first cap. I have had injuries almost every year so I hadn’t quite got there ... I’ve just got to build on it now.’’
Fredericks admits he has come a long way since his 2015 brain surgery, which threatened to curtail the game he loves.
‘‘I certainly never thought I would get to this position at that time. I guess I must be doing something right.’’