Brussow back with new skills
Broadened experience in Japan
MONOTONY, that vast conveyor belt of sameness, drove Heinrich Brussow to a land that celebrates new dawns. “I went for the experience,” he said about his sojourn in Japan. “I was in the same position for quite some time and I needed change. I was at Free State the whole time doing the same thing over and over again.
“I wasn’t involved with the Springboks and I thought I needed a new challenge,” the 27-yearold open-side flanker said.
Last year he headed east to the Docomo Red Hurricanes, but not to hone his skills in the dark arts on the deck. Other tools needed sharpening. “I went to work on a few different elements of my game. Over there you can experiment a little more and work on things that you aren’t necessarily good at.
“I worked a lot more on my running skills and I enjoyed it.
“There they expect you to carry the ball a bit more. There the game is faster. They have structure but there are more line breaks, more turnovers. There it is more about the length of the field as opposed to the width in Super Rugby. Their locks and props are a lit- tle lighter. The game is quick and perhaps not as physical as it is here but they are very passionate.”
Brussow returned to the Cheetahs’ starting lineup against the Sharks last weekend and had a huge hand in his team’s efficacy at the breakdown. He exacted four steals and overplayed his hand twice by conceding penalties, but there was no denying the breakdown dynamo was back. In the last round of matches he shared the most number of turnovers with the man he is up against this weekend, Stormers flanker Deon Fourie.
The two go head-to-head in an area former England coach Dick Best perhaps once best described: “A fetcher is like a pig farmer perennially crouched over with his hands in the sh*t.”
Brussow is already rolling up his sleeves for the challenge. “He’s very good,” he said of Fourie. “He is such an underrated player in this country. He is very consistent and plays well from game to game. He’s mobile and a strong ball carrier. He steals balls well and he makes tackles.”
It will be the kind of challenge that Brussow relishes but whether their battle will register as much as a blip on Bok coach Heyneke Meyer’s radar remains to be seen. Brussow has not donned the Bok jersey since their World Cup quarterfinal exit in Wellington in 2011. He hardly is the high impact prototype the coach demands from his back row. However, he broke the mould he felt stuck in and others can benefit from it too.