French test can bring best out of Edinburgh
● Du Preez hoping struggling capital side rise to occasion against La Rochelle
“Last season I pretty much played every game. I was rested for an Agen game in Europe here and that was about it,” he explained. “It was pretty tough, playing 80 minutes every week. By the end of the season I was struggling a bit with my ankle.
“When they had a look at it there was a loose bone that was there. It was a six to 12 week injury so I was struggling for fitness at the start of the season and we had a lot of loose forwards that were performing well.
“I wasn’t in the best of shape so I preferred going to Heriot’s to get a bit of game time instead of just running around on the back pitches here. It was better to play rugby. I was called up [to the autumn Test squad, but didn’t play].
“It would have been a bit different if I had got capped after playing for Heriot’s! You always learn from everything you go through. I was delighted to be capped [in the Six Nations] and delighted to be back playing for Edinburgh too.”
Du Preez has noticeably bulked up in the last year or so and is a different specimen from the player who took the Pro12 by storm when he arrived in 2013. He suffered a bad ankle break in the autumn of 2014 and made his comeback in the home Challenge Cup semi-final win over Dragons and he is hoping for a similar occasion to that one come Friday evening.
“I spend more time in the gym. I’ve had a bit more time for that as I wasn’t playing as much earlier in the season,” said the 26-year-old. “I’ve got targets when it comes to skin folds [measuring muscle to fat ratio]. The conditioning side of the national squad are quite strong on those things as they rightly should be. I’m not really a guy who did much gym work, even back in South Africa, so it’s quite good getting used to it now.
“Just getting the body stronger. I think gym is not only about getting bigger but also about helping prevent getting injuries. That’s one thing I’ve been quite lucky with. I’ve had that big one [the broken ankle] but apart from that I’ve not had many other injuries.”
A match against French opposition is always likely to be physical and Du Preez is relishing that this week, although he is aware that Edinburgh may not want to get into an arm wrestle with the visitors.
“I think it will be important for us to get the ball moving a bit,” he said. “We don’t have to take them on physically that much – they are big boys so we need to play around them instead of through them.”
Having got that taste of Test rugby, Du Preez admits he has half an eye on the summer tour but added: “It’s something I’ve thought about but first things first I need to play well for Edinburgh to get recognition for that. That’s my main focus personally. If that goes well I’ll hope to get a shot.”