Aphelele Fassi is looking forward to doing something he didn’t do too often during the 2021 rugby year - getting onto the field and getting match time.
The fullback who so many would love to see get a chance at the Springboks played only sporadically for the national team and was then one of the players ruled out when Covid and injury cut a swathe through the Cell C Sharks’ ranks when they played their first ever Vodacom United Rugby Championship game against the Bulls in December. He came onto the field from the replacements bench for a brief period in a friendly match the Sharks played against the Toyota Cheetahs the week before that Bulls game, but that was it as far as his rugby for the Sharks was concerned after his call-up to the Bok squad at the end of May.
So, Saturday’s trip to Emirates Airlines Park to play the Emirates Lions will not only be Fassi’s first URC game for the Sharks, it will also be his start in any game at any level since he played on the wing for the Boks against Argentina in Port Elizabeth in the Castle Lager Rugby Championship. That was in August, so six months ago.
It should hardly be surprising then that Fassi sounded like an excited schoolboy when he spoke about the Lions match during a media session on Tuesday.
“I understand it is very good for me to get to play so that I can apply the things that I learned in my time with the Boks and start to bring them through,” said Fassi.
“I’ve listened to the other guys about their experiences of the UC so far and from them I have been learning what it is like. I am just super excited to get out there this weekend and start putting in some good performances.”
If you subscribe to the view that playing is the best way to learn, it is easy to box Fassi as a player who might have had his progress stymied a bit by the arrival of Covid coupled with his mostly non-playing role at the Boks. He was 21 years of age when Covid arrived and is now 23 and could arguably have developed more had he seen more action in the past two years.
These days the Bok camp does provide a good learning opportunity even if you don't get to play so it will be interesting to see what changes he has made to his game. It will be his onfield performance that will provide the evidence of any growth, and one thing he is likely to find himself needing to do for Saturday is to make the transition back to fullback after playing on the wing for the Boks.
“Every player has a regular position. Moving from the Boks though back into the set-up should not be too big a transition as I have two quality Bok wings alongside me in the back three (Makazole Mapimpi and Sbu Nkosi) to make that job easier,” he said.
The good thing for Fassi is that Saturday is likely to provide him with the opportunity to showcase the attacking style of rugby he enjoys playing.
“We are expecting a really fast game, the Lions love to play with intensity and tempo and with ball in hand,” said the Dale College old boy.
“For some of us this will be the first time playing URC and that is really exciting. It is also the first time I will be playing in a long time. It’s been a tough two weeks of training after the time off and we have worked hard on the things we wanted to focus on after taking a good look at how the initial URC games went for us.
“Playing that first overseas leg was obviously a difficult phase for us, but there were lots of learnings we took from it, and I feel that has improved us. We are looking forward to getting out there and rectifying the mistakes we made in those first games.
“It has been really hot and the heat can get you down but the guys in the camp are relaxed and just eager to get onto the field and play. The boys have energy from their eagerness to get out there and you can feel it every day. The mood is determined, and we are just delighted to have fixtures again.”
The Sharks team for the Lions game will be named later in the week but Fassi is certain to be one of a phalanx of Boks who will be part of the Sharks effort in Johannesburg and after the long wait and period of inactivity it is an opportunity to make up for lost time.