The flanker was one of the big stars in the Bulls pre-season performance in Polokwane over the weekend and is focused on getting his career very much back on track after a few wayward years.

Now Wannenburg wants to repay the trust and faith shown in him by the Bulls — the family he has had at Loftus Versfeld for the past few years.

“It was great, and it went well. I’m just happy that I could start a game again, it’s been a long time since that happened,” Wannenburg said about his performance in Polokwane.

But now that the first hurdle has been passed, Wannenberg knows he has to follow it up week by week, especially as he has tough competition with the likes of Pierre Spies, Danie Rossouw, Dewald Potgieter, Derick Kuun and Deon Stegmann all vying for places in the Bulls loose trio.

While he has committed himself to a stricter regime of training and has already shed many of the kilos that hampered him, Wannenburg’s admission in a local magazine that he had a dalliance with drugs and alcohol last year brought him into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

Wannenburg explained that he made the admission to shake off the shackles of his past, so that he could finally move on.

“I had a long chat to my mother about all of this, and we agreed it was a good thing to come clean, and to take responsibility for what I did,” he told SuperSport.com.

Wannenburg is well aware that he will always be a target for gossip, as happened this past week when he was alleged to have been seen in a bar drinking again. But he shrugs it off, and carries on.

“I’ve certainly realised that I have to live with all of this, and with a reputation, but people should also realise that because I’ve taken responsibility for everything, it doesn’t mean that I have to become a hermit and hide away from life.

“I’ve said and done a lot of things in my life, and it won’t go away. But when I go out now, I know where my limits are. I’m still going to go out and have a glass of wine or a beer from time to time, but I know what the dangers are.”

Still, the former Bok knows where his motivation is — the fact that he let both his own family and his “Loftus” family down.

“For now I’m concentrating on getting back into the team and giving my best there. My focus has gone off me and onto what I can do to make the team better. I’ve let them down, I’ve disappointed them and I have to make it up to them again,” Wannenburg added.

While Wannenburg will have to remove a current Springbok from the starting line-up to get his place back, it is not a challenge he is shying away from.

“Look, I know it is going to be a difficult ask. But that is what makes it interesting times around here. Every player knows that they will have to physically perform to retain their place in the team, and competition was never a bad thing for a side, was it?

“I was also younger once and had something to prove and I took the place of older guys in the team. It’s ironic that it’s the other way around now. I’ve still got a few things to prove,” Wannenburg adds.

“It will be a difficult task, but I’ve made my mind up what I want in my life and I have set goals for myself to achieve. My problems in my personal life are the best reminder of why I am doing this.”

Certainly a fit and focused Wannenberg in form can only be an inspiration for his teammates, and do his side the world of good to know all its cogs are firing on all cylinders.

by Brenden Nel

Supersport