Experienced Springbok fullback Willie le Roux has never won a top-level club trophy with a provincial or club team, but that didn’t stop him from sending out a message to his Vodacom Bulls teammates ahead of their Vodacom United Rugby Championship Grand Final against Leinster on Saturday: Don’t go into your shells.
Le Roux has 98 test caps, is a double World Cup winner and easily one of the best attacking minds in the competition, but he was open when asked about the inevitable nerves that would come as the Bulls head into their third final in four seasons, still looking for that victory to take the title.
“It’s the same as playing the first game of the season,” Le Roux said his advice would be to those in the changeroom that would get nervous ahead of kick-off.
“It’s not to put this final on a pedestal and make this that much bigger. You go into your shell where you don’t want to try stuff and you don’t want to run from your own half. That is not what got us here in the first place.
DON’T GO INTO YOUR SHELL
“You shouldn’t wait. If you’re a winger, you don’t wait outside on the wing to get the ball: you come in and you work off your wing and you get your hands on the ball as much as you can.
“We got here through taking chances. We see an opportunity, we take it. That is what you must do in those big games as well: whether you make a mistake or not, it’s about putting yourself out there, putting yourself in battle. You might lose a few battles but you might also win.
“That’s just the little things that I tell the guys. You might lose a few battles but it’s about getting back up and putting yourself into as many as you can.”
While many would give Leinster the massive favourites tag and write off the Bulls chances, the Bok fullback knows it is all about performing in the 80 minutes of rugby ahead.
“It’s a final, it’s one game away now. You could have had the worst season of your life or been in the best attacking team of this season, but that doesn’t matter. This is the game. This is the only one you need to win to lift the trophy.
FINE MARGINS IN FINALS
“Finals are fine margins, whether it’s at home or away. These games come down to maybe one moment, one mistake you might make, one piece of brilliance someone else does.
“They all say it’s ‘mission impossible’, but we’ll have to wait and see on Saturday. It’s all about playing for each other, playing for your brother next to you, and playing for Cornal.”
Hendricks has featured massively in the Bulls’ build-up with the players retiring the 14 jersey for the remainder of the season and the side playing with his picture on their backs. And Le Roux, whose only club trophy was a B-section trophy with Hendricks for Boland when they were a lot younger, wants to see the team succeed for his old fallen friend.
“That wasn’t something that you woke up one morning and expected to happen,” Le Roux said about the shock news of Hendricks passing.
“I think that what the Bulls have done when we retired his jersey this season and (Canan) Moodie has been playing with the number 24 jersey. -the photos and stuff at the back of our numbers - it is just a reminder; reminding us that every time, before we put on the jersey, what an influence he had at the club, his positive attitude. He would light up a room when he walked in.”
The Bulls will be hoping that will be enough to get them over the line against the odds and give them their first URC title. If they do, you can bet Le Roux will be a big part of that.