Troubles of a white wing
21 Apr 2010
Gerhard van den Heever faces immense obstacles in his quest to earn Springbok selection.
The Bulls wing wants to go to the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand. And in an ideal world, one uncomplicated by Bryan Habana’s legacy and accepted but flawed selection norms, he’d have a realistic hope too.
This, after all, is the kid who ended his rookie season in 2009 having scored 11 tries in 19 provincial matches, and at the time of writing had bagged four in seven Super 14 starts. Rich in promise and with all the technical and physical attributes a modern wing needs to be successful, his Springbok ambition isn’t misplaced.
But his is a unique battle – one that no other elite South African wing has to fight.
It’s one, firstly, for acceptance and appreciation among the Loftus disciples, who are still in mourning after the passing – figuratively speaking – of their messiah, Habana. Van den Heever is yet to prove he is worthy of lacing Habana’s boots, let alone filling them.
Those in the know at the Bulls tell me he’s quicker than Habana (a South African champion hurdler at school, he once ran 13.7sec over 110m and boasts a 200m best of 20.9). He’s quicker than that now, but speed alone will never see him escape Habana’s haunting shadow.
Habana’s legend was built on feats of brilliance, the most memorable of which came at Kings Park in 2007. That last-gasp try against the Sharks captured the Bulls’ first Super 14 title. Appreciation for Habana became reverence. Whoever succeeded him would be judged by the standard he had set.
Habana was the Bulls’ adrenalin-charged central nervous system, renowned for his ability to spark the team into life with impossibly brilliant feats. Viewed in this context, Van den Heever’s lot is not an enviable one.
He addresses the subject of being compared to Habana with the naivety of the man-child that he is.
‘People shouldn’t compare me to Bryan,’ he says. ‘Of course they shouldn’t,’ I counter, ‘but the reality is they do and are, and will continue to for some time.’
‘I can’t control that. I can’t control what people think. I just know I’m my own man. Bryan is the best wing in the world. Nobody can fill his boots,’ is his rebuttal.
‘Sure,’ I probe further, ‘but as unrealistic as the expectation is, the nature of people is to measure the replacement of an exceptional player by the standards that player has set. Let me ask you this, where do you think you stand in the Bulls supporters’ estimation?
‘I don’t know. I haven’t thought about that.’
Of course he hasn’t. The question was a foolish one to pose to a 20-year-old who was probably oblivious to the issue until I raised it. Such complexities didn’t register with him. Keeping his starting place through consistent performance is his primary, all-consuming, objective. But his ignorant bliss will soon be disturbed by the realisation of the magnitude of the task ahead. The Bulls’ faithful are looking for a new demi-god to worship. Van den Heever’s mortality will only be tolerated for so long. Supernatural is what is demanded.
‘That’s unfair pressure to put on a youngster,’ Bulls coach Frans Ludeke says. ‘We see a bright future for Gerhard, but we’re realistic about his development and understand that we need to have patience with him.
‘Bryan was a special player who will forever be remembered as a legend at Loftus. But I think it’s testament to Gerhard’s talent that people compare him to Bryan. Even Bryan said he [Van den Heever] is a better player at 20 than he was at the same age. That’s a massive compliment and he will only improve.
‘We’re giving him time and space to progress naturally. I hope others will do the same.’
Van den Heever could have done without Habana weighing in on the issue of his successor in a post-match interview after their Currie Cup triumph in 2009.
It was a throwaway line: ‘I think Gerhard has the potential to be a Bulls and Springbok great.’ The implications of which Habana didn’t consider at the time. He was paying a massive compliment to his heir apparent, but inadvertently dumped a jersey that weighed 100kg on the kid and slipped lead boots on to his feet.
Van den Heever remains unfazed.
‘That comment never made me feel burdened. Why would it? I grew up idolising Bryan and for me to feel down about him saying kind things like that about me to the media would be foolish.’
But there is an uncertainty detectable in Van den Heever’s voice. Earlier he told me ‘I back my ability’ when asked if he ever felt inhibited by a fear of failure, then later admits that he ‘sometimes’ thinks he is out of his depth.
That inconsistency isn’t unexpected from one so young. It does, however, remind us that Van den Heever’s is as much a battle to emerge from Habana’s shadow, as it is one for emotional and cognitive equilibrium.
Then there’s the issue of Springbok selection and the World Cup, which poses an altogether new challenge.
Not since Nick Mallett routinely penned Pieter Rossouw’s name on the team sheet has a Springbok coach consistently selected a white wing.
This has become the domain of the dark-skinned player, and the prospects of the perception that white is whack changing are slim, unless Van den Heever plays so exceptionally that he makes himself invaluable to the Springboks.
And even if he should master levitation, acquire a jet pack and blow his opposition away in the coming year, he would still be competing for just one position, given that Springbok coach Peter de Villiers is highly unlikely to look beyond Habana as his starting left wing.
That leaves Van den Heever competing with eight wingers (at the time of writing, all of whom were black, and one of who, JP Pietersen, is a World Cup winner) for the right wing berth.
‘If I suggested those were insurmountable odds, what would your response be?’
‘I don’t think like that,’ he says, ‘I don’t think about the issues you’ve raised, or all the wingers I have to get past to make the Springbok squad. Maybe it’s naive, but I’d like to think that if I’m the best of the bunch I’ll get picked.’
‘But that hasn’t been the reality of Springbok rugby recently,’ I interject. ‘The best players sometimes don’t get picked for various reasons.’
‘The Springbok coach has said on a number of occasions that he will reward those who perform consistently. I can only trust that he stays true to his word,’ he says.
Only time will tell whether Van den Heever will die in the darkness cast by Habana’s shadow, or whether he’ll stay the execution and build a legacy of his own. This year’s rugby season will be decisive in answering that question.
Time is not an ally. Conclusions about his aptitude for Super Rugby will be drawn at the end of their 2010 campaign, or perhaps sooner, without due consideration of his age. Even exceptional performances will still not guarantee that he even gets a passing glance from the Springbok selectors.
Welcome to the world of Gerhard van den Heever. It isn’t a place for the faint-hearted.
By Ryan Vrede
– This article first appeared in the April issue of SA Rugby magazine. The May issue is on sale now.
566 Comments
Pages: « 1 2 [3] 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 … 12 » Show All
21 Apr 2010, 10:03 am
@Ashley_Langenhoven: Ok. You’re just stupid. Moving on.
Oh and it’s great to know I can still get that vein in your neck to pump with fury without even trying. Why don’t you run along and get a heart attack now.
21 Apr 2010, 10:03 am
Oh la la …. Quelle horreur…
Pauvre Hurdles..
21 Apr 2010, 10:05 am
@Ashley_Langenhoven:
Grade 2 and dropping … fast.
21 Apr 2010, 10:05 am
@Sonito:
Now you’re being naughty. I just think he genuinely is very pretty. He has freckles over his nose I think.
21 Apr 2010, 10:06 am
Time to drop the race card and pick players on merit and not race.
21 Apr 2010, 10:06 am
@Dawn:
hahahahahaha
21 Apr 2010, 10:06 am
@Tacitus: Well if there are some who haven’t yet, they certainly will after he scores a couple over V/D Heever in Newlands next month!!
21 Apr 2010, 10:06 am
reds
Crusaders
sharks
bulls
That keeps me awake at night!
Bloody hell could they have made stormers run in more tough??
21 Apr 2010, 10:06 am
@Brentie1: 105
viva
21 Apr 2010, 10:07 am
@WP Till I Die:
Non, je ne parle pas français du tout. J’écris avec un peu d’aide
21 Apr 2010, 10:08 am
@grant10: It’s crunch time. I wouldn’t worry about the Sharks though.
21 Apr 2010, 10:08 am
between Dawn and Rossoneri i reckon Piet gets to experience a good old saffa hospital today….cardiac section.
21 Apr 2010, 10:09 am
@rossoneri: 111
Picked up grand stand ticket for Saders game yesterday!!
21 Apr 2010, 10:09 am
I see we now have three limp dicks swanning around with pocket hankies and speaking French.
21 Apr 2010, 10:09 am
@gunther: WTF hurdles?
21 Apr 2010, 10:10 am
@Dawn: A limp **** wont matter to you, obviously.
Don’t flap
21 Apr 2010, 10:11 am
@Heavens Game:
Ja.
Your **** flaps even when you don’t want it to.
21 Apr 2010, 10:11 am
K@k , he is not bok material. Its one thing to run fast but another to do so with a rugby ball in your hand.
21 Apr 2010, 10:11 am
@Dawn:
Quatre – Avez-vous passé en mathématiques à l’école
21 Apr 2010, 10:13 am
@Heavens Game:
Elle adore l’attention qu’elle reçoit de tout le monde parlait d’elle.
21 Apr 2010, 10:13 am
@grant10:
Will get that money into your account today !!
Can’t wait !!
21 Apr 2010, 10:13 am
@Oubaas2009: Agree 100%, there is nothing wrong with our current bunch of youngsters, just because they’ve been in the wars and won so much does not mean they are old and disposable, 2015 RWC is where GVDH will shine
21 Apr 2010, 10:13 am
@Dawn: 117. At least it works, however minimally. lol. For you it shouldn’t matter though, surely. Or are you actually interested in dicks, I might have been mistaken all along.
21 Apr 2010, 10:14 am
@Bill Reyts:
Audi Quatre?
Did I pass mathematics at school?
Why?
21 Apr 2010, 10:15 am
@Bill Reyts: 120. That she does.
21 Apr 2010, 10:15 am
@Bill Reyts:
I adore attention?
Why?
21 Apr 2010, 10:15 am
@Dawn: @124
Quatre mecs de langue française mon amie
21 Apr 2010, 10:15 am
Schwoa, Ich bin so schrecklich geil heute.
Dieser Typ “Ashley_Langenhoven” muß ein Schwanzlutscher sein.
21 Apr 2010, 10:16 am
@Dawn:
Parce que Je t’aime et le langage de l’amour est le français
21 Apr 2010, 10:18 am
@WP Till I Die: jakomte, jakomte!!!
21 Apr 2010, 10:18 am
Dawn avez vous beaucoup d’experience des connards?
HG
Oui “hurdles” c’est son nom de guerre!
21 Apr 2010, 10:18 am
@Heavens Game:
Elle s’intéresse à des kilts…
21 Apr 2010, 10:18 am
@Dawn:
Mon doux Dawn! Je m’abstiendrai de parler français au moment où vous avouer votre amour mourir pour moi.
21 Apr 2010, 10:20 am
@WP Till I Die: 132. Yeah, it seems anything with a dress
21 Apr 2010, 10:20 am
@WP Till I Die:
Elle s’intéresse également à pénis doux que je vois.
21 Apr 2010, 10:20 am
@gunther:
Non, “Hurdles” est son nom de plume.
“Pantoffel” est so nom de guerre…
21 Apr 2010, 10:21 am
Interestingly enough, if you use a IRB player value system exactly along the lines of FIFA player value system ………you end up with something like this
Dan Carter 25
FDP 22
Richie Mc Caw 17
Brian Habana 18.5
Jaque Fourie 15
Vic Mattfield 13.5
Joe Rockokoko 11.4
Frans Steyn 9
Juan Martin Hernandez 9
Will Genia 9
James O’ Connor 8.5
Quade Cooper 8.5
Conrad Smith 8.5
Juan Smith 8.5
Schalk Burger 8
Bakkies Botha 8
Matt G 8
Stephen Brett 8
Steven Donald 7.9
Morne Steyn 7.9
Jamie Heaslip 7.8
James Horwill 7.8
Tony Woodcock 7.7
BOD 7.7
Gethin Jenkins 7.7
Carl Hayman 7.6
Vincent Clerc 7.6
Jamie Roberts 7.6
Imanol Harinordoquy 7.6
Rob Kearney 7.5
Jimmy Cowan 7.4
Sergio Parisse 7.5
Rocky Elsom 7.5
James Hook 7.5
Tommy Bowe 7.5
Jerry Flannery 7.5
Ben Robinson 7.5
Nicolas Mas 6.5
Nick Easter 5.5
Note one of the major Factor is the age of a player, hence O’ Connor priced above BOD
21 Apr 2010, 10:21 am
@Taahirah: Assuming JdV buggers off or gets injured.
21 Apr 2010, 10:22 am
Todos está siendo terriblemente grosero
21 Apr 2010, 10:23 am
Sometimes, men are a HUGE disappointment.
21 Apr 2010, 10:23 am
@Dawn: got to their website www dot capetown-caledonian-pipeband dot com
21 Apr 2010, 10:23 am
@Dawn: sympathies
21 Apr 2010, 10:23 am
C’est magnifique – Keo en francais!
Allez les Bleus!
21 Apr 2010, 10:24 am
@justrugby:
Yes I agree with you JR!
21 Apr 2010, 10:24 am
@WP Till I Die: Allez
21 Apr 2010, 10:25 am
@Dawn:
Seulement quand ils ivre et ne peut pas effectuer
21 Apr 2010, 10:25 am
@Bill Reyts:
LOl……let’s all then converse in English !
21 Apr 2010, 10:26 am
@Dawn:
Ma cherie: wwww dot cthighlanders dot co dot za
21 Apr 2010, 10:26 am
This kid have the attributes to become a great like Pissant mentioned earlier.
He still have to walk the walk though ,but have made an more than decent start.
Further, hopefully selections will be on merit only ALLWAYS !!!
Our national team must be the 15 best players, whether they are lilly white or chocolate brown – The best 15 please !!!
And lastly, this kid does’nt sound all that childish at all, and I for one thought he handled Ryan’s leading questions quite well…
21 Apr 2010, 10:28 am
@justrugby: shove your “crude” up your mini-me
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