Schalk can still be a big daddy
EASTBOURNE: The eternally effervescent Schalk Burger has been a reckless “poacher “for so long that it sounds a touch incongruous to hear the scarred streetfighter talking of a new role as “gatekeeper” in the closing chapters of his illustrious career. We should not be surprised. Time waits for no man, not even the irrepressible Burger, who just keeps bouncing back whatever cropper life has given him.
Now, at his incredible fourth World Cup, Burger has conceded it is time to respect his body, to use his accumulated wisdom for the good of the team. But he at least speaks of his new found responsibility with an ironic grin. He is not too sure about it all himself ...
“I hear they are calling us Dad’s Army? Well I suppose that is literally true in that there are number of fathers in the team, and my two little boys are my own constant reminder that I am not the young buck I used to be,” he says, an inescapable smile never far from his face. “The fact is that the average age of the team is 26, last I heard, and the trick is to use the benefits of youth with the know-how of experience. That is how World Cups are won.”
Burger, warming to his topic of the benefits of age, added: “Yes some of us are, well, more experienced than others, but experience is a commodity you can’t buy. You either have been at World Cups or you have not, and we are fortunate that we have a lot of players that go back to the triumph of 2007 and have felt the pain of 2011.
“You learn what not to do in World Cups, you learn from your mistakes and know when you are on the right track,” Burger said. “Us experienced guys have the job of getting the guys on the same wave length before and during games. Everybody has to understand that there are going to be tight situations and you need to know how to get out of them, how to turn a tricky situation into a favourable position? The youngsters bring the energy but us older guys know how to handle things and in which direction to lead the charge.”
Burger said that each World Cup had its own unique flavour, both in the Bok squad and the country in which it was hosted, and embracing the event and the local people are one of the tips Burger is handing out.
‘My first one, 2003, was an interesting one pre-tournament with (bush training camp) Staaldraad. It is nice to have been able to keep my clothes on this year ... A few years ago I did not think 2015 was possible. I just thought my time at World Cups had come and gone,” he said. “So being here I am relishing it all that more knowing it is certainly the last one.
“But having said that, my ill- ness, injuries, the birth of my kids ... all these things have changed my perspective on the game,” he said.
“Everything used to revolve around rugby. When I got injured in 2012, rugby had dominated my life until then. A lot has happened since ... Rugby is now a smaller pot for me, it is still a big deal but I see it in a different perspective.”
But his hunger to win it is the same as it has always been. He is perhaps hungrier.
“I can’t be that old because I found myself getting impatient with the build-up to this tour- nament. It seems to have been the longest pre-season of my career, that is how thorough we have been, but the player in you wants to get cracking,” Burger enthused. “I think that because I know World Cups so well, I want us to get going and get on the right track as soon as possi- ble. The important thing is to get into a groove of how you are going to play and how you are going to win games. Once we get that right, this team can go far in this competition.” All the way? Burger is too shrewd to commit to that.
“Again, experience has shown me that you can have all the desire in the world in a World Cup and still lose a quarter-final. It happens. The past teaches you the best way to attempt to win a tournament but it also tells you that there are hardly any guarantees.”