Els flying high for Germany
FROM King William’s Town to Heidelberg is the journey local rugby talent Jarrid Els took on his way to playing international rugby for the German team.
Els will be representing his adopted country for the eighth time today when they take on Brazil in the second match of their end of year incoming tour.
This is the first time the German Rugby Union (DRV) are staging a three-match autumn Test series and they began it with a bang by beating Uruguay with a last gasp extra time penalty in Frankfurt last weekend.
“Playing a World Cup opponent was massive. It was a hard and physical game,” said Els.
Els and his teammates will be riding a massive wave of confidence when they take on the Brazilians, who they defeated twice while touring South America last year.
“Our confidence is high going into these two games against Brazil, having beaten them twice before and after the game against Uruguay.
“We know Brazil have strong forwards so the games won’t be easy. We will have to work for the result.”
Playing against Brazil will also have added meaning for Els after he made his international debut against them last year.
In all he has played in four wins, two losses and a draw for Germany and will be hoping to add another one to the win column today.
“Every rugby player wants to play at the highest level, so getting my first international cap was amazing and we won so it made it all that better,” said Els.
Winning the final two international matches of the year will put Germany in a good position to work from when they head into the new year.
All of this is working towards the team’s main goal of helping Germany reach the World Cup for the first time in 2019.
“Our ultimate goal is to qualify for the World Cup in 2019, so every game from now counts towards that.
“We play in the Six Nations B division, so we are aiming to beat Russia, Spain and Belgium and be very competitive against Georgia and Romania.”
Els’s journey to becoming a German international was an interesting one.
He was born in King William’s Town and attended Dale Junior until grade eight when he moved to Hudson Park High School where he finished his schooling career.
After school, he went to the University of Johannesburg and turned out for the Lions junior sides.
Els then returned to East London after an injury, recovered and joined the Border men’s side, where he spent one season.
After that he headed to Europe and played one season each in Spain and France, before settling down in Germany.
He has since played rugby for HRK in Heidelberg in the first Bundesliga for the past four years, which qualified him to represent Germany due to living in the country over that time.
After the year end internationals Els will be heading home and will spend Christmas in East London, before getting back to business in Germany in the new year.