(Courtesy from iAfrica.com)

Fully fit at the start of a season for the first time in years and with nothing to prove, World Cup-winning Springbok flyhalf André Pretorius is looking forward to his stint at the Western Force. Pretorius said the move to West Australia has done him the world of good. The Force players depart Perth for Cape Town on Tuesday, where they will face the Stormers and Sharks in a pre-season tri-series.

They tackle the Stormers on Saturday, January 23, then face the Sharks on Tuesday, January 26, before the Sharks and Stormers complete the mini-tournament when they go head-to-head on Friday, January 29. All the games will be played at Newlands.

Pretorius, who played the last of his 31 Tests when he started at flyhalf for the Boks against Wales in Cardiff in November 2007, is not looking to prove anybody wrong during his stay in Perth – where he will play as the Force’s marquee international for the 2010 season.

The move is not about regaining a place in the Springbok side either. It is just about enjoying his rugby again. “I am enjoying the lifestyle change, but then again who wouldn’t if you had grown up in Johannesburg and now get to live near the beach where everything is so close to you,”

When asked about his first few months in Perth, Pretorius answered  “Training has been good and tough at times, but that is why they call it pre-season. “My body is feeling good and that is testament to the way we get managed here.”

Asked if he felt the move could revitalize his game, he said the change has done him the world of good. “I am hoping to see that come through in my game on the field.” He made it clear that having a good pre-season and making sure he goes into the competition fit for a change were high on his list of priorities.

“In previous years I have had to miss out on pre-season training due to injury, which meant I only started regaining fitness later in the competition,” Pretorius added.

While his appearance in the tri-series at Newlands will be his first games on South African soil since he departed for Perth late last year, a more interesting return to SA will come in May – when the Force will be on a three-match road trip in the Republic.

It will start when they face Pretorius’ former team, the Lions, in Johannesburg on May 1. They also face the Cheetahs, in Bloemfontein, on May 8 and the Sharks, in Durban, on May 14.

It is his return to his former home ground, now named after a sponsor but more commonly known as Ellis Park, that could see a most interesting welcome for Pretorius. “I am sure the reception will be ‘warm’, but I will be kind of use to it because when some of the other local teams came to Ellis Park we regularly saw more of their fans than our own,” Pretorius told iafrica.com, when asked about his expectations for that game.

“I hope they can change that, because there is not a lot of things that can compare to a packed Ellis Park and them getting right behind their home team. “However, I am looking forward to going there,” he said, adding: “It should be strange going into the other locker room for the first time.”

The 31-year-old Pretorius, who was a member of the World Cup-winning Springboks squad in 2007, has compiled just shy of 650 points in Super Rugby for the Johannesburg-based Lions. His prolific point-scoring record ranks him seventh on the all-time list in Super Rugby, owing mainly to his radar-like right boot. The creative playmaker’s attacking potency has also been proven on the game’s biggest stage, where he amassed 171 points in just 31 appearances for the Springboks – after making his Test debut in 2002.