‘When you know this is the real deal ...’

farm environment and had never been exposed to big cities like Cape Town. For me, Stellenbosch was a big city. It was an opportunity, but I was also thrown in at the deep end.

At Stellenbosch, I was exposed to gyms and to the other trappings that the kids who had played good rugby throughout their school careers would have been well used to. Dawie Snyman, the former Springbok fullback who coached Western Province in the golden era and who is an institution at Maties, took my hand and guided me. In my first year, I started off in the Stellenbosch under-19 F team. I was much younger than 19 at the time. The belief started to come as I worked my way up through the under19 teams. I went from the under-19 F team to under-19 A in a month, and then got fast-tracked into the under-20 A team. The next year, I made the first team.

I arrived as a no-name brand, with no school representative honours. So I just wanted to see how far I could push it. I was surprised, though, how quickly I got sucked into the culture. I picked up quickly that I must start believing in myself. I needed to say to myself that I belonged there. That period in the mid-1990s was a transition time in our country’s history. I was the only player of colour. I think, though, that because I was from a farming background, I mixed well with the Afrikaans boys.

We had a captain by the name of Steven Brink. He also came from Ceres and was also a farmer. So we could connect. He was a lock. I got on well with him, and that was a big help. The university was experiencing a massive influx of English-speaking guys as well, so it was a good mix of cultures and language groups. One of those Englishspeaking guys was Bob Skinstad. He made a big impression on me early in my varsity career, and he would turn out to have a big influence on my career.

Bob just bubbled with self-assurance. He was always thinking outside the box. Even then, when not even 20 years of age, he wanted to change the way that flankers play. We spent a lot of time together and he helped me believe I could compete.

Playing with guys like Bob, and later Corné Krige, helped massively to accelerate my development as a rugby player. I think in both their cases, their schools had played a big part in preparing them for the world out there. Where you went to school obviously has a dramatic influence on the person that you become.

We farm kids were very reserved and conservative. Whereas the private schools and other big schools go on overseas tours from around the time they are in grade 8, we went to Cape Town once, in a bus. Just that once, that was the sum total of it. Guys like Bob were exposed to the wider world at a much earlier age, so I could understand where his confidence came from. I also understood that I was playing catch-up.

Being selected to play for the Maties first team was the moment when I realised I could go far in rugby. I was in good company — we had a talented group of guys at Maties at that time. Apart from me and Bob, Selborne Boome and Louis Koen were also at Stellenbosch then, and went on to become Springboks. But they all had very different beginnings and school careers from mine.