Anyone who has ever watched Evan Roos play will cop a wry smile when they learn his name literally means “Young warrior”.
The 22-year old sensation burst onto the scene during this year’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship and kicked the door down that the Springbok selectors could ignore him no more.
And while many will know the young player as a star of the future who will make his debut for the Springboks on Saturday in the second test against Wales, few know the obstacles he has overcome to continue a rugby career to make it to the top.
One thing is for sure, talk to anyone who has known him - from his family to school coaches - and they all say the same thing. Evan Roos was always destined for greatness.
“A once in a generation type of player,” his primary school coach Hector Swiegelaar offers almost immediately while his coach at Paarl Boys High (Boishaai) Sean Erasmus believes he “was always destined to become a Springbok”.
It is easy to find the superlatives for a player such as Roos and many a commentator has during his rise to the Bok squad after a sensational URC season but it was clear from a young age he was destined for bigger things. And no challenge seemed to big for him.
Swiegelaar, the deputy principle at Midstream College in Pretoria remembers the young pupil that arrived at the school, and immediately stood out. “When he arrived in Grade one I told people - ‘watch that kid, he is destined for bigger things’” Swiegelaar tells supersport.com.
“Just the way he is, his presence, even as a child, was so much different to others. And on the rugby field it stood out. By the time he played under-9 rugby, we thought he was going to tackle guys dead.
“I remember one occasion for the primary school first team. We needed a hooker and we asked him to play there. He was a bit sceptical but I knew I needed someone with that bit of “vark” (pig) in his play. He did so well in the new position he was selected for the Blue Bulls Craven Week team.
“Even then, when he got the ball, he ran as if nobody was going to stop him.”
Swiegelaar jokes that Roos earned his nickname - “Staalfabriek” (Steel Factory) with his play at that under-12 Craven Week.
“He got that nickname quite quickly. One coach came to me and asked me: “What are you feeding that laaitie, he’s just a piece of steel, we can’t seem to tackle him. Another coach fired back that he isn’t steel, he doesn’t eat steel, Evan is simply a Steel factory. And the nickname stuck.
“From then on it was Evan “Staalfabriek” Roos.”
SUPERHERO
But Roos wasn’t always destined to be a rugby star. His parents Erik and Vanessa remember when he graduated from primary school and was asked what he wanted to be one day in life. While most children said doctors and veterinarians, Roos was adamant. “He said he wanted to be two things - a security guard and a rapper. The security guard was because we stayed in Midstream Estate and he spent a lot of time talking to the security guards and kicking balls around with them.
“The rapper, well, that was a stage when he used to breakdance a lot and was really into rap music.”
His parents always knew he was set to become a hero. As a youngster every birthday he vowed to dress up as a superhero. Whether it was Superman, Spiderman or the Incredibles, not a birthday went by without Roos donning some sort of garb to play the hero.
Even now, he is a devoted Star Wars fan, and watched the Disney series Obi Wan Kenobi several times with his 10-year-old brother Rohland over the past few weeks.
SCHOOL BLUES
While Roos quickly became a star rugby player when he moved to Boishaai in Paarl, his road wasn’t smooth in any way. He was selected and missed both the under-16 Grant Khomo week and the under-18 Craven Week because of injuries.
Roos broke an arm in the weeks before the Grant Khomo Week and in his Grade 11 year broke his leg weeks before the Craven Week was about to start. Determined to get to the top, he made it to the next Craven week in his matric year, and was rewarded with Western Province and SA Schools colours.
“Funnily, because of the injuries, he only ever played one Interschools (the fixture against Paarl Gimnasium),” his father Erik says.
“But even through the different challenges, he carried on and grinded away - he became an example to the rest of the family that you never give up. You keep on going step for step, one day at a time.”
In that interschools game he scored a try that will be remembered for the ages. From broken field play he sprinted like a winger and scored a 50 metre try that is still the thing of legend at Boishaai.
His schools coach there, Sean Erasmus, remembers the try well, and feels privileged to have coached Roos.
“I was really privileged to have worked with Evan and he is an amazing person. To me the most important part is always developing good young men and from the beginning he was really serious about rugby and doing things well,” Erasmus told supersport.com
“I remember when he struggled with injuries initially, he kept on asking what he could do better and how he could do it better - he was always looking for another angle or opportunity or solution to do things better. That sort of summed up his work ethic - very professional, and very focused, always looking to do better than he did the day before. “
Erasmus remembers the comparisons to Pierre Spies, who was a Springbok at the time.
“Being the physical, specimen that he was, everyone was referring to him as the Pierre Spies-type eighth man. The first time I worked with him, I remember I played him at seven just because of that ability of his to carry and beat defenders. He also had a physical, defensive game. At that time he was the understudy to Francke Horn, who was our eighthman.
“He went to eighthman in his final year and who will forget the try he scored in interschools from broken play - a 50metre try that he scored just with power and pace.
“I always believed he could go the full way - I’m very proud of him becoming a Springbok this weekend.”
Erasmus said that Roos has always stated level-headed and humble, something you hear from most people you chat to. And he points to how he is able to give back to the school he loved.
“Two weeks I gave him a call - we were struggling a bit with things at the school and I asked how you are doing things at the Stormers? He was there at my office and came and had a coffee and shared his knowledge with the boys. A real gentleman, always willing to share and give his knowledge,” Erasmus added.
CAPE TOWN FORM EXPLOSION
And then after a few junior seasons at the Sharks, Roos left for Cape Town and found instant joy in his new team environment at the Stormers.
And quickly everyone started to take notice. His speed and tackle-breaking, try-scoring ability became a sight to behold, and a big part of the Stormers’ charge to the URC title. His coach John Dobson believes there are few players he has come across in his career quite like Roos.
“He is an eye-catching player and has a lot of support behind him because of his incredible work-rate. What people don’t seem to realise is he has an almost-like a Pieter-Steph (du Toit) workrate, which is exceptional,” Dobson told supersport.com
“And then there is his speed and his incredible desire to win all his battles. You can see it is very personal for him and he is really pumped up for that. Sometimes like we saw against Leinster it is a bit too much, but it comes from a real place of desperation to win every battle.”
Dobson believes he will just keep getting better, but knows he still isn’t the finished article yet and has a way to go before he reaches his peak.
“He is a great team bloke, just wanting to contribute to the cause and wanting to win. He is a youngster and it is his breakthrough season and there is a lot of detail that we, even at our level, need to get right with him and certainly around international level.
“Whether that is about the nuances of competing at lineouts or stopping a maul attack, or some areas of kick return, or backfield cover - all of which comes with experience and more coaching and being exposed more to the system.
“When the Springbok coaches talk about x-amount of caps, those are the things they are talking about. We have a lot of respect for the way the whole thing is currently being handled. It is brilliant that he is part of the setup and learning a lot, that he has stuff to learn, I have no doubt, but that he is a star of the future I absolutely have no doubt.
“You just don’t get that engine and speed, naturally in many players. It must now be properly harnessed, coached and even rested. We even probably over-played him a bit, he played in all but two or three of our games, which was probably too much, but we will get that right.
“But geez, what a player.”
Off the field he spends a lot of time with his family, and especially his younger siblings Taila and Rohland.
“He’s very close to his family, and away from the field a gentle giant,” his father Erik laughs.
“He loves animals, and often it is this picture of this bruised rugby player lying on a Sunday with the cat sleeping on his stomach. I always laugh when I see that.
“But what you see is what you get with him - there’s no bullshit. When he gets between those four lines though, he goes into warrior mode.
“He seems to thrive in the big match situation and he is blessed with a big match temperament that few players have. We are so thankful that his rugby career is going so well, and we keep him humble.”
Roos has discovered another passion of late, and is, according to his family, “a wannabee barista”, having bought a coffee machine for his house and being gifted with coffee beans by friends and family.
But when he pulls that jersey on ahead of Saturday’s first of hopefully many tests in the Green and Gold, Roos will go into warrior mode.
And the Staalfabriek will shine through.
In the URC a number of clubs, including the Welsh clubs, felt the wrath that Roos in his prime could bring.
On Saturday he has a chance to start a new chapter, and rise to the occasion once more.