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, 15:17 pm
@poppa69: i think you’ll find that we never lost a test series at home OR abroad in 53 years. but maybe the foreign refs learnt afrikaans just to irritate their home teams? not sure. i do know that in the days when local refs handled the game, there was bias regardless of what language they spoke. fact is, home and away we were undefeated.
21 Apr 2010, 15:18 pm
@Soda: hahah throwing stones when we know Saffa players like Spies are guaranteed to be on the juice, hence his pulmonary embolism.. at such a young age.. tsk tsk
how many others are on the juice???? no wonder the sudden rise in SA rugby
also, how many foreigners are you guys going to murder during this years soccer world cup??
21 Apr 2010, 15:18 pm
@poppa69: Oh yes and the french team lost in the RWC against NZ because of an english speaking ref…….. oh no wait they didn’t. stupid excuse my boy, the rules of the game dont change from one language to another.
21 Apr 2010, 15:19 pm
@poppa69: PS, how many grand slams have you got?
21 Apr 2010, 15:19 pm
@MacToogie: Hey MacDoogle…you weren’t that chop on Superbru with a kilt in his profile pic going around with this ‘Ochey….Ochey…’ all the time ?
He was also a Flou Nulle supporter.
The hookers chosen for the Boks will be Bismark and the Cheetahs Strauss. Sub national rugby heroes Tiaan and Gary wont even come into the picture.
21 Apr 2010, 15:21 pm
@Soda: @MacToogie: you havent answered my question, how many visitors to your shores this year will never return home? how many will be murdered?
21 Apr 2010, 15:22 pm
@poppa69: you see, you have no come back so you have to move to other chirps to try and get to us, you know that NZ wont win the RWC next year, you guys are kakking yourselves and it just shows by your comments.
21 Apr 2010, 15:23 pm
@MacToogie: I know of teams that have lost tournament finals being refereed by alcoholics – that were committed to rehab a couple of weeks after the game.
I reckon they had a couple of Klippies and Cola at half time.
21 Apr 2010, 15:24 pm
@poppa69: thats not the topic of discussion sunshine, why the switch off topic? cant handle the truth son?
21 Apr 2010, 15:24 pm
@MacToogie: I dont know that at all, the tournament hasnt even started… like I said before, continue to write us off…
so tell me, how many people will be murdered in SA this year??
21 Apr 2010, 15:25 pm
I dont think it is such a bad heading.
Because we all know that the quota system exist in our rugby and both our wings are black. But the trouble is not that they are black its because they are the best in their position in the country and they fill a quota slot.
21 Apr 2010, 15:25 pm
@poppa69: i’m not talking about steroids dude. come on, the same percentage of rugby players in every country are on them (except maybe england at the moment).
mostly we don’t murder foreigners, we murder each other. New Zealanders on the other hand murder themselves with the highest suicide rate amongst the youth and overall per capita in the world. in fact, if you take suicide into account as a crime (which it is in NZ) then NZ has the highest per capita crime rate in the world. bet you didn’t know that.
21 Apr 2010, 15:26 pm
@MacToogie: I can handle the truth, but how can there be a truth for an event that hasnt occurred yet…
do you see the flaw in your very limited logic?
or do you still prefer to be a little man and have to measure your tiny appendage to prove yourself somehow better?
21 Apr 2010, 15:26 pm
@poppa69: Atleast 22 that being the All Black squad when they play the Boks!
21 Apr 2010, 15:27 pm
@Soda: you seem to know an awful lot about a country you so obviously hate so much, why is that?
21 Apr 2010, 15:27 pm
@poppa69: the point is, you have a lost generation to deal with (lost and dying). is NZ really that bad a place that most of the kids are turning to drugs or suicide? i’m confused because it looked kind of nice in that lord of the rings movie. especially the place where the elves lived – the mountainy bit with the stream.
21 Apr 2010, 15:28 pm
@poppa69: the tournament hasn’t started yet so how do i know how well we will do this time around.
21 Apr 2010, 15:30 pm
@Soda: so tell me, the slums in soweto, how about those lost generations, what have you done to rectify those??
oh I see, criticising others while not tending to your own backyard speaks immeasurable volumes..
21 Apr 2010, 15:31 pm
@poppa69: now you see, they way you go about your comments just shows you have nothing to say and that you are in fact scared because you know that there will be mass suicide in NZ when the AB’s lose to france yet again in a RWC
21 Apr 2010, 15:31 pm
@poppa69: I passed Biometrics with honours at Varsity. So, I did a bit of a calculation.
Using available statistics provided by our government (which no doubt reflect about 50% of the reality) – I worked out that from the figure initially bantered around of 1.2 million tourists that the world cup might attract and taking into consideration the duration of their stay that up to 6000 tourists will experience violent crime during their time in South Africa.
Now that it looks like we will be lucky to have half that figure, it looks like only 3000 will be affected by violent crime.
It wasnt a difficult calculation to make. And if FIFA think that somehow things will change in SA just because its world cup time – they are horribly mistaken. In fact, I think its more like the spider saying to the fly – come into my web….
And ummm…our criminals dont care if 100 Billion was spent on security. And they are pretty ruthless…raping a paramedic while they are helping on the scene of a serious accident….thats pretty ruthless..
21 Apr 2010, 15:32 pm
@MacToogie: @Soda: had your fun boys, had your little stir?
feel better about ourselves now huh? feel like real men for a change?
21 Apr 2010, 15:33 pm
@poppa69: yeah, that has nothing to do with rugby, HAHAHAHAHA what a git trying to divert attention away from how bad NZ are at the moment.
21 Apr 2010, 15:35 pm
@MacToogie: To hell with that idea….next year, the All Blacks lose to South Africa…in the final.
The greatest reward available in international rugby….the sweetest, sweetest most awesome, and worthy of worship will be the beating of the Kiwis in the rugby world cup final – in front of their own fans.
So – no, France must please not knock them out again.
21 Apr 2010, 15:35 pm
@poppa69: i don’t deny that (although mostly the slums are not in the townships but part of informal squatter camps). in fact a lot has been down to bring in low cost housing for the established townships. however, i digress. the point being made was how much of the population to play rugby would be left. south africa has 48 million people so ensuring the next generation of players isn’t really a problem, even though it is only played and supported by a minority of the country.
21 Apr 2010, 15:36 pm
@poppa69: my enourmous **** makes me feel like a real man POPPA, not posts on a silly forum.
21 Apr 2010, 15:36 pm
sheesh guys?
suicide? murder? rape? lost generation?
i think it would be suicide for the blues to try and murder the sharks at kings park this weekend. just because we have a lost generation (frans steyn etc) doesnt mean they can just pitch up here and…uh……rape us?
no, rape just isnt a good word in a rugby discussion.
now ****** keep it clean you tossers.
21 Apr 2010, 15:38 pm
@poppa69: run little kiwi, run, zee French arrrge cumiiiiing
21 Apr 2010, 15:39 pm
@rangerman: point taken, i take it all back. except the enormous **** bit.
21 Apr 2010, 15:40 pm
@Soda: You are so wrong though. Did you watch Dale College take on Hilton (I think it was) on FNB Classic clashes.
Mostly black players – and pretty damn good as well.
The sooner South Africa can incorporate its black population in rugby, the sooner we can reap the rewards of their natural athletic prowess.
Have a look at the Sharks academy – 90% black. Big, powerful looking black guys. I thought they were all forwards, but not….half of them are backline players that will have the little guys whimpering and running away like little girls.
21 Apr 2010, 15:40 pm
@MacToogie: yep, thats why there is a kiwi team at the top of the log… bwahahahaaha
48 million people and you are behind on the head to head count 42-33 to a country with only 4 million people..
lets not get into actual registered playing numbers though huh, even more embarassing for you guys huh?
21 Apr 2010, 15:40 pm
@Soda: 347
Good afternoon.
Only now had time to get my daily dose of Keo and then were confronted by this tripe. Did not read the bloggers’ responses before I posted. Was just too pissed off.
Agree with you, they’re only looking for hits so I’ll leave it there.
@Falken: 361
If they are the best, than they can’t be quotas because by definition a quota is “an INFERIOR black/coloured player who gets selected ahead of a BETTER white player because of his skin colour”.
By your own admission, JPP and HABANA are the best wings and therefore not inferior to any white player out there.
Ag wat, just leave it.
21 Apr 2010, 15:42 pm
@Dusky: You cant play them in the final if they don’t have the balls to make it there, and thats the problem they don’t have the gnads to do it.
21 Apr 2010, 15:44 pm
@Dusky: i’m all for it mate. really, i don’t care if we have purple people with pink spots playing for us as long as they’re good. the sad reality is that even though the percentage of the team might become more black, it’s still a very small minority of black people that are interested in rugby. i do of course hope that changes.
21 Apr 2010, 15:45 pm
@poppa69: seriously dude, how big is YOUR ****? mine is really huge. REALLY huge. send me your email address and i’ll ping you a pic.
21 Apr 2010, 15:46 pm
@nama1: We haven’t had a black or coloured Springbok player in a couple of years that wasn’t there based on merit.
Van den Heever is an average player – right now. He may develop, but he doesn’t really deserve the hype he is getting.
Against the Blues the guy couldn’t tackle a blanket soaked in super glue if it was fired at him from a canon. And the same guys that are yanking his string will tell you Adi Jacobs cant tackle. Horribly biased…
Lwazi Mvovo, both Ndunganes and Mapoe are all black players that are better then ou Gerhardtjie…
21 Apr 2010, 15:46 pm
@poppa69: playijg numbers mean nothing without the silverware, as much as you NZlander’s say the world cup doesnt matter, each one of you would give your left eye to have that in your trophy case.
come talk to us again in 6 weeks when the S14 is over, SA have 2 teams in the top 4 son, and then the saders still have to come here and play our top 3 SA sides, come back then my boy
21 Apr 2010, 15:47 pm
@MacToogie: No – we must cheer them on…they must make the final…against us. Flip, it will be the most beautiful Springbok victory ever…
To beat the All Blacks in a world cup final in New Zealand….nothing will ever beat that.
21 Apr 2010, 15:48 pm
@Soda: whoah, this just got all kinds of weird. didnt know this was a CT thread….., =P
21 Apr 2010, 15:49 pm
@Dusky: we wont meet in the final, we will be on the same side of the draw… unless we lose to France in the POOL stages, in which event you guys will face France…
21 Apr 2010, 15:49 pm
hahahaha troubles of a white wing. Thats some funny stuff right there in the headline not that I entirely disagree with some of the content.
21 Apr 2010, 15:49 pm
@nama1: That surely is not the definition of a quota player nor is it that of the quota system in a totality.
21 Apr 2010, 15:49 pm
@Dusky: knowing the hurt they would feel and actually having some very good kiwi friends (i actually do like NZ’ers a lot) i actually wouldn’t want this. let the frogs finish them off first and get it over and done with.
21 Apr 2010, 15:50 pm
@Eminem: are you the real Eminem? can you give us a quick rap about rugby and pretending to be black?
21 Apr 2010, 15:51 pm
@poppa69: Dammit !
21 Apr 2010, 15:52 pm
@MacToogie: @386 silverware huh?
NZ
10 Super titles
9 3Ns titles
1 WC
SA
2 Super Titiles
2 or 3 3Ns
2 WCs
so not sure what your point is…
and dont worry, I will be here at the end of the super 14, will you? considering the stormers have a really hard road in, and the bulls have been shown to have glaring weaknesses, its not all as rosy as youd like to believe…
21 Apr 2010, 15:52 pm
@Eminem: Will the real slim shady please stand up…please stand up…
21 Apr 2010, 15:53 pm
@poppa69: hahahahahaha Viv le France
21 Apr 2010, 15:53 pm
Soda..
you guys talk about the frogs beating us in next years world cup, no probs..it will be in the pool stages
WE ARE IN THE SAME POOL AS FRANCE..
do you guys not understand this???
21 Apr 2010, 15:54 pm
@MacToogie: true, when was the last time you guys beat France?
21 Apr 2010, 15:55 pm
@poppa69: But ummmm….one piece of silverware that is more important than all those….is missing for 20 years ?
Sorry – I am not a Kiwi hater…I thought I should just mention it.
Pages: « 1 … 2 3 4 5 6 7 [8] 9 10 11 12 » Show All
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.