Fitting in was par for ‘white’ course
Storm, JC take to changing setups with some ease
FOLKS at the Border Bulldogs must be scratching their heads as to what all the fuss is about – Siya Kolisi being the first black Springbok captain, nearly achieving an all-black frontrow and the first black African to reach a 100 Tests, in Tendai “the Beast” Mtawarira.
And this is not being dismissive at all about the excitement gripping the country around these developments – it’s just that Border Rugby reached those milestones over a decade ago, to the point where every matchday squad of 22 comprises 90% black African players.
Put another way, what used to be the two black wings narrative in a professional SA rugby team, has been replaced by the “two white locks” story – in Hendri Storm and JC van Rensburg at Border.
As experiences go, it’s an unusual reversal of the status quo, particularly from a cultural perspective. But try telling that to Storm, who says while he may have found the setup a little “different” at first, a team is a team is a team.
“It was a bit different to get used to but after I started training with the okes I got used to it,” he explained. “There wasn’t even a language barrier because the guys tried to be understanding, and after a while I became part of everything and never felt left out.”
Originally from East London (he attended Grens Primary School), Storm moved to George when he was young and ended up matriculating at Outeniqua before moving to Bloemfontein to study Human Movement Science and representing the Cheetahs’ U19 side.
“At Outeniqua there were also a lot of black guys in the team, but it wasn’t like I was the only white guy in the team.”
The one obvious potential for language to be a barrier is in the Xhosa songs the Bulldogs sing on the bus, in the dressing-room and in the tunnel and on to the field.
“You won’t believe me but some of the songs are not so difficult, so Hannes [van Rensburg], Blake [Kyd] and I join in and stuff sometimes.”
The Border dressing-room is the loudest Storm has ever been in, though. Having moved from a school environment where there were first team songs, to a quiet Cheetahs setup and ended up with a Bulldogs mob which seems to have a song for pretty much every situation.
An example is when they played their opening game of their SuperSport Rugby Challenge campaign; they went into that fixture two days after narrowly missing out on being liquidated, so the song for that game against the Boland Cavaliers was about going into a Soldier’s War.
Storm said he and Van Rensburg roomed together when travelling with the team, but it wasn’t to keep the two white locks thing going.
“It probably has more to do with the fact that we’re both locks, it’s no big deal.”
Playing their club rugby in the Border region also means they are probably a lot more accustomed to the communities the Rugby Challenge has been played in.
“We’re definitely used to it. When we play club rugby sometimes we go to venues like that. So we’re used to the vibe while you can tell that some of the teams aren’t.” —