This month’s personality
HE’S GOT TO SEE SOME AMAZING PARTS OF THE WORLD, BUT FOR BLITZBOK STAR AND SPRINGBOK 15s HOPEFUL SEABELO SENATLA, THERE REALLY IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME
I’ve travelled to a lot of places, especially with the Sevens team. I try to do as much as I can. But the second time I go there I just want to chill. I think itʼs because, in most of the cities we travel to, the attractions are man-made. Iʼm a nature-lover, thatʼs why my home base of Cape Town is my favourite city.
I love coming back home. It’s just beautiful, there’s so much to do. Itʼs so easy to buzz between city and nature, a lot of other places donʼt have that. Like Dubai… itʼs amazing, but once youʼve been there, youʼve been there, you know? Thereʼs nothing more to see, itʼs all concrete. I love being in nature, camping somewhere like the Cederberg, in the mountains, trying to escape the real world.
It’s experiences, rather than places that stick out In New Zealand, we visited a farm just outside-Hamilton where they made the Lord of the Rings films… that was incredible.
Away from the rugby field, I like water – I have a huge relationship with water, even just chilling on the rocks and watching the waves break. Water has a way of restoring, replenishing. I surf quite a bit. Melkbos is my go-to spot.
I also play golf with my friends. I used to think it was a disgusting sport but it brings a calm to me. Being out there for 4–5 hours, just concentrating on the little white ball – some restorative effect happens. As rugby players, we have a lot of pressure so anything that takes you away from the game is good.
I’m not your archetypal rugby player, I don’t fit the mould. Rugby is tough and hard but outside of the game, I have some duality to me. Everything I do is different, the way I dress is different. People used to be like ʻwhat is he?ʼ Iʼve always been comfortable with being different, though. Iʼm just being me. Weʼre all unique and you wonʼt get fulfilment by trying to be someone else.
I have a wine brand, called Glory. The idea came about as I was starting to move away from Sevens. I had so much success in Sevens – many people say it has been my glory years although I think itʼs too early to say that – but at any rate, I wanted to take my hat off to that phase in my life, do something to celebrate it. Wine at the time was the answer. Obviously, Stellenbosch influenced that, staying there and tasting wine at the farms and so on. So I met up with Idiom and luckily theyʼre very experimental and were quite receptive to the idea.
My short-term goal is to be involved in The Lions Series. Even though Iʼve not been in the Springbok set-up before – and the Springbok wings we have right now are really good – I see myself in the same light. I want to be in the running.