The Vodacom United Rugby Championship has made several South African players much bigger names overseas than they were before and there’s probably no-one that applies to more than Evan Roos.
The 22-year-old Stormers No 8 is a name frequently mentioned by the overseas media and commentators when referencing the Stormers, and the players he opposes on the playing field have started doing it too.
For instance, Edinburgh’s Pierre Schoeman earlier this week had Roos’s name come out of his mouth first when he was talking about the Stormers threats and the carrying and offload ability of the Cape team’s forwards.
Roos is bound to be a player Edinburgh put a particular emphasis on stopping when they prepare for their quarterfinal in Cape Town on 4 June, and it will be another litmus test for the loose-forward’s burgeoning reputation and his readiness to graduate to the Springboks.
There was a time when Roos had every reason to be down in the dumps though when it came to his chances of Bok selection, as he was one of a few players who the fans would have felt were deserving but were left off the calling list of national director of rugby Rassie Erasmus and Bok coach Jacques Nienaber for the year’s first national alignment camps.
That was back in early April in the build-up to the Stormers’ return derby against the Vodacom Bulls, who also had some highly influential players apparently on the outer when it came to Bok selection, including Roos’s opposite number Elrigh Louw.
The clash between those two was a stalemate on a day where the best loose-forward on show was probably another ignored player, the Bulls captain Marcell Coetzee, but two weeks later Roos was in sublime form playing for the Stormers against Glasgow.
When he forced his way over it capped a commanding performance that Erasmus clearly noted for it was after that game he sent out the Tweet that had everyone talking.
'NOT ABOUT ME'
“Evan Roos that is the way you deal with disappointment” or words to that effect had the fans buzzing, as well as Roos’s mates and family. The reaction to the tweet caused his phone to go on the blink.
“It was a surreal moment,” he agreed. “Usually after a game when I look at my phone there is my mom and dad wanting to chat about the game and how I went, but after that game my phone just froze.
“It was quite a cool thing to do and a cool thing to receive It was quite nice and I didn’t expect it. But although it was a great boost and really cool I try not to hold onto it too much. I moved on from that and focused on my next job which was to get the Stormers into the URC playoffs.”
There might be a feeling that the playoffs can be make or break for a players’ chances of making the Bok squad, but Roos will please Erasmus, who is big on the concept of “their is no I in team”, with his attitude to the knockouts.
He’s not looking at the next games as a chance to further himself, he says he is only looking at the Stormers and what they require from him.
“If player goes in with the mindset of winning a quarterfinal for personal reasons then he is there for the wrong reasons,” says the 22-year-old Roos, who is a product of Paarl Boys High School and returned home to the Cape last year after excelling for the Cell C Sharks at age group level before that.
“Winning is about the team, going far in the playoffs is all about the team and what the team can achieve. I tend not to focus on personal things. If you do it can trip you up. It is not about me. If we win the quarterfinal then it is about the team and what we have done as a group.”
However, it does appear that the communications Roos had with Erasmus and Nienaber has made him comfortable with where he stands in the Bok pecking order and what he needs to do to secure a spot in the playing squad for the series against Wales in July and beyond that.
“The (Bok) coaching staff have been very helpful. They have pointed out things than can work for me and I have been working on those things. I am very grateful for the input they have given me,” he said.
“I have been working on the areas I have been told need improving on one side but my main focus now is on the Stormers. We have a quarterfinal to win and we are very excited about it, particularly as it will be played at the DHL Stadium.”