Schalk Burger
He didn’t get what he wanted from the last game of the Vodacom Super Rugby season, which was for his DHL Stormers team to buck the trend of failure in marquee matches, but typically that did not place a massive dent in Schalk Burger’s good humour afterwards.
“I’m not going to see you guys for a while. It would be nice to have you staying over with us in Japan sometime. Get an excuse to come and write about the South Africans playing in Japan and we will be happy to host you,” was the Stormers captain’s grinning parting statement as he left the Newlands boardroom following the post-match press conference after the defeat to the Sharks.
The amiable Burger that we saw after the game was a stark contrast to the angry and frustrated player we saw on the field during the game. The match was brutal at times, and Burger was at the heart of the tempestuous physical exchanges. It was also evident that he allowed the referee Jaco Peyper to get under his skin for what the Stormers may have seen as his inability to stop dubious Sharks tactics at the breakdown.
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And yet that is Burger, and All Black captain Richie McCaw is just one prominent international player and opponent of Burger who has attested to the fact that as hard as Burger is on the field, he is a nice guy off it.
But Burger’s sociability does not mean he lacks a strong determination to see his team succeed, and his laid back nature away from the field should never be confused with lack of commitment. There has been some concern in the Cape that Burger’s imminent sojourn in Japan means he will soon be lost to the Stormers cause going forward, but the good news is that Burger has no intention of ending his South African career in a hurry.
In fact, his almost two years away from the field fighting serious injury and illness has probably prolonged his career, as he admits that had he been playing for those two years, this last game against the Sharks might have been his Stormers swansong as he could well have decided to commit only to Japan for the remaining years of his career.
Instead, his undiminished appetite for Super Rugby and playing for the Stormers will see an announcement made soon that he will be involved with the Cape side until the end of the 2016 season.
“Hopefully I have two years left at the Stormers – 2015 and 2016,” said Burger.
“The deal has been done and hopefully there will be an official announcement in the next few days or in the coming weeks. I have a two year deal in Japan, but the intention is that I return for two more seasons with the Stormers. After 2016 I will reassess it. Maybe by then my appetite for playing Super Rugby and playing for the Stormers would be less than it is now.
“If it had not been for my unplanned sabbatical maybe I would have had enough and I would now be committed to only playing rugby in Japan. But that is not the case, I have a strong appetite to continue playing top level competitive rugby and there is a big drive for me to keep proving that I can continue to play at the highest level.”
Burger said that the finer points have yet to be sorted out, but that when it comes to playing for the Springboks over the next two years he will fit into the same deal that applies to Fourie du Preez, who was the driving force in luring Burger to Suntory.
“The plan is for me to fall into the same program as Fourie, which means I will be available for the June internationals, the home games in the Rugby Championship and all the end of year tour games with the exception of the last one against Wales, which falls out of the IRB’s international window.”
“When I started negotiating with Japan I wasn’t sure I would be selected for the Springboks again, but I did make it clear to them that I still had a strong desire to play Super Rugby and I also still had aspirations to play international rugby.”
The likelihood that he will get game time for the Springboks during the course of the remainder of the year should mean that he won’t be left with too much catching up to do when he returns to the Stormers next March.
“That is something I spoke to Fourie about, and he reckons I will be fine. Rugby in Japan is not as physical as Super Rugby, but then maybe that is a good thing for me now. Fourie tells me the pace is a lot quicker than Super Rugby, so if I play one or two test matches during the remainder of the year I should be able to slot back into the Stormers next year without too many problems.”
Burger, at 31, is younger than the older players in the Springbok team that attracted so much comment and speculation during the June international window, which was something he reminded the media about after his comeback game for the Boks against the World XV at the start of the June schedule.
“I get a bit upset when I see that I am listed among the ‘old pills’ in the team. I am not one of them, I am much younger than them,” he grinned.
Burger doesn’t deny that the desire to get his hands on that elusive trophy with the Stormers is possibly one of the factors that has kept his hunger for Super Rugby. He came close twice, with the Stormers team that he captained losing the 2010 final to the Bulls at Orlando Stadium before being beaten in a home semifinal by the Crusaders the following year.
The flank wasn’t part of the WP team that won the Currie Cup in 2012, so there is unfinished business for Burger. However, at the same time, he is not going to get ahead of himself.
“Super Rugby is a fickle competition. The Reds came last one year, and the next season they won it. There is a high turn-around of players from one season to the next, with teams seldom being set for a long period like used to be the case. So it is hard to be bullish about what will happen the following season. We are losing a few experienced players, as we did a few years ago. Losing nearly 400 caps in experience does leave a void.”
Burger was disappointed after the Sharks game that his team were unable to combat the “finals rugby” that the opposition played, but he is nonetheless convinced that the changes to playing style, with the emphasis being on adapting to the situation so that the Stormers are not pigeon holed into playing just one type of game, have been positive.
“We have limited resources at franchise level. But we do have a lot of talented new guys coming through, and they will be fast tracked into the senior team. What is most important though is that I feel we have turned the corner with our playing style. Rugby goes in four year cycles, and for four years we were the most successful team if you look at our 70% win record in that period. But there comes a time when you have to evolve your game, and I feel like we are doing that now.”