Morné van den Berg will start Saturday’s Test against the All Blacks from the bench, but he has already done his homework on the opposite number he might have to shut down. CLINTON VAN DER BERG reports.
Cam Roigard, New Zealand’s electric scrumhalf, is firmly on the radar of the man they call ‘Krappie’.
“He’s a very good player,” Van den Berg said from the team’s Johannesburg base on Wednesday afternoon, before laying out the plan with the calm of a man who has clearly thought about this a lot.
“You refer back to your system. If we’re good enough, and we get right what we want to get right, then it’s going to be a difficult day for him behind a slow ruck. As a scrumhalf, it’s really difficult if your ball is going backwards.”
The approach, he insisted, isn’t personal.
“It’s more about putting more pressure on them as a team, rather than focusing on him as an individual, it’s more about shutting the All Blacks down.”
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It will be Van den Berg’s second crack at the All Blacks in a Springbok jersey, and so far his record in green and gold remains spotless.
“It was a really cool experience,” he said of last week’s buildup, when he got 25 minutes as a replacement. “Obviously they’re one of the best sides in the world, so to experience that intensity was really good.”
Saturday also brings a rare treat: a Test match in Johannesburg, at FNB Stadium, in front of what could be around 90,000 fans. Ironically, it was at the same venue where he made his senior Lions debut, playing in Super Hero Sunday in 2020.
“We’ve trained there this week and it’s an absolutely incredible stadium,” Van den Berg said. “The whole team is buzzing and excited for this.”
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There’s a nostalgic layer to facing New Zealand too.
“Most of us weren’t even born in ’95,” he said, but the reverence for the black jersey runs deep regardless.
“Growing up, Dan Carter was like the rock star of rugby. If you’re a kid in South Africa, you dream of playing for the Boks against the All Blacks.”
As for the nickname, the story is refreshingly ordinary.
“There was a guy in matric the year above who I really looked a lot like, and they started calling me ‘Krappie’ [little crab]. It’s been a good 15 years now, I’m not too bothered by it.”
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His own boyhood heroes were locals.
“I grew up a massive Lions fan, Ricky Januarie, his combination with André Pretorius. Then Fourie du Preez really was the one. If I had to be like somebody, it would probably be him.”
Roigard has been warned. Krappies is coming off the bench with a plan.
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Photo: Roger Sedres/Gallo Images
The post Krappie plots slow-ball nightmare for Roigard appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Morné van den Berg will start Saturday’s Test against the All Blacks from the bench, but he has already done his homework on the opposite number he might have to shut down.
The post Krappie plots slow-ball nightmare for Roigard appeared first on SA Rugby magazine. Read More
