Decision day for British and Irish Lions selection is getting nearer and several United Kingdom based players returning to Vodacom United Rugby Championship this coming weekend have that to play for.
Lions coach Andy Farrell, who because he is in charge of the composite team that will head to Australia for an iconic three match series in July had to take a sabbatical from his regular job as Ireland coach, was spotted in the stands in Cardiff when England ran roughshod over Wales in their final Guinness Six Nations fixture.
It is reasonable to assume from that that he will have been more enamoured with the individual performances of the England players than the Welsh. Which effectively means that the Welsh players that play for Cardiff and Scarlets when they host the Emirates Lions and DHL Stormers respectively in crucial URC games at the weekend now have to pull out all the stops and ensure that they can use a different level of competition as their calling card.
The Stormers’ elder statesman Deon Fourie is very aware that the British players are lifting their performances this year due to the carrot of being part of the Lions tour, and that they will lift further now that the final furlong in the race to Lions selection has arrived.
But he’s also aware that many of the South African players will have their own reasons to lift in the coming weeks now that Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has mapped out the plans for this year and beyond in the first national alignment camp of 2025.
“The prospect of Lions selection definitely gives the overseas guys something to play for and a reason to lift their performance,” Fourie, who is known as Brannas, agreed.
“But it is the same for the South African guys as well. We have just come out of an alignment camp, which was attended by over 50 guys. So that is quite a lot of players who will have been provided with the extra motivation of knowing they are in the Bok plans and have something to play for.
“There was a lot discussed and learned at the alignment camp (which was held last week in Cape Town) and the players will take that back to their unions. I am sure everyone will have been motivated by having been at the alignment camp and all the players who were there will have seen that as an indication that they have something extra to play for.”
DANGLED CARROT FOR FOURIE
That includes Fourie himself, who although he will turn 39 as this year’s Castle Lager Rugby Championship winds down in late September, has been dangled the carrot of again playing the influential role within the camp that he did when he was part of the World Cup winning effort in 2023.
The product of Pietersburg High School made his international debut in 2022 at the relatively august age of 35, and when he failed to get called up to any of the Bok alignment camps last year he would have been forgiven for thinking that the national team had moved on from him. But he was part of the most recent alignment camp, much to both his surprise and delight.
“I was in the bus. We had just arrived in Joburg for the Stormers game against the Lions when I heard. I must say I was quite surprised. I really didn’t expect to have that honour again. Being there and hearing what the plans are for the year definitely lit that fire again. So hopefully I can be involved going forward.”
Fourie was an important player for the Boks when he last played, as he was effectively the de facto captain when the World Cup final against New Zealand ended with the Boks as one point winners.
He was the unsung hero of the winning effort after being asked to be the back-up hooker, a position he had really played for several years, and found himself coming onto the field very early in the piece following the injury to starting hooker Bongi Mbonambi.
Although he wasn’t part of the initial camps last year, it should be remembered that Fourie suffered a serious injury last April that kept him out for the rest of the season. It could have been that Erasmus might have called him up later on in the year had he been available.
He is available now and is part of a Stormers team he feels is gaining momentum after a poor start to their URC campaign.
He himself might feel he didn’t exactly hit the ground running when he first returned from his long layoff but in the last three-match phase to the derby stage to the season, which was completed with a good win over the Bulls at Loftus, he confirmed he was back to his old form.
And it would not be a surprise if he plays more test rugby in 2025 and even beyond that as it is understood he is looking at continuing his career with the Stormers for another two years.