Terblanche 'just standing in'
Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:22
Sharks captain Stefan Terblanche, who will lead the men from Durban against the team whom he originally played for said the captaincy armband is just temporary.
The 34-year-old fullback, who will lead the Sharks against Boland in a Currie Cup Round Two match in Durban on Friday, takes over from injured Springbok lock Johann Muller.
In fact the encounter with the Cavaliers will see Terblanche's career take a full circle, as he comes up against the team for whom he started playing provincial rugby.
Although he was drafted by The Sharks into their Super 12 side at the time, he returned to his roots to continue playing in the Currie Cup competition for Boland (playing 66 times for them), before make a permanent move to Durban.
During his time with The Sharks, he earned 37 caps for the Springboks (scoring 19 tries in the process), while he also took a few years out of the local scene to play for Ospreys in Wales where he performed with distinction.
Having played for The Sharks 150 times he admits that it is "a big honour" to captain the side.
"I'm delighted to add my name to the group of players who have achieved this, but for me, every game is special," he said in an interview on the Sharks website.
His return to South Africa and The Sharks has been met with strong affirmation surrounding his playing ability and the huge amounts of experience he brings to the team.
"I'm just standing in for Johann at the moment," he said, adding: "But it is such an honour and privilege. It's also nice playing against Boland where I started playing my rugby – I'm not going to say when, but it was a long time ago!
"No, it's nice but with it comes a lot of responsibility. We didn't have the best of starts against province but we are trying to build and get things going in the right order."
He admits that lessons were learned in last week's game, a 15-29 loss to Western Province.
"Just to take our opportunities. If you look at the Province game, it was wet and they scored a charge-down try and one from turnover ball, so there wasn't much in the game apart from that, but we' be looking to take a few steps in the right direction, obviously tidy up on our defence and hopefully with some good weather we'll attack a bit more as well."
He adds that winning your home games is important if you are going to make a go of the campaign, something they achieved last year and will look to emulate again in 2009.
"It doesn't matter who you play against, you have to win at home. Boland played well against the Leopards last weekend and they showed to be good opposition last year when we only managed to beat them in the last 10, 15 minutes of the game over here, so they are certainly going to give us a run for our money."
Although he has played 150 times for The Sharks, a rare achievement in itself, if you add up all of his first class games, the figure is a touch over 250 which is quite a remarkable accomplishment in a career that began in 1994.
"I've been very fortunate as far as injuries are concerned," he explains of his longevity in a game that can be fraught with setbacks.
"Obviously you try and prepare yourself as best you can both mentally and physically for every game and every season. It's also about getting the balance right, you have to think rugby a lot of the time but sometimes you have to switch off, have a beer and enjoy life.
"Just like touring, balance is what it's all about; when it time to get on the field, then it's boots on, switch on."
Contact Us | Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy
