'Some of my mates were like, 'Chill out, man, what are you doing?' But I didn't care'
Juan de Jongh tells a story about the Olympic village, a smartphone and Serena Williams.
There he was, at the heart of the action in Rio, a member of the Blitzbokke squad that claimed third place and bronze medals four years ago. He walked awestruck through the streets of the athletes’ residence passing one sporting colossus after the next.
He would ask for photographs and gorge himself on the wisdom of these elites. He spotted the great tennis champion, wearied by a snaking throng of admirers and selfie-seekers, and thought he’d chance his arm.
“Serena had taken some photos and she blocked me and my mate off because she wasn’t taking any more,” de Jongh laughs.
“She took a lot of photos and when we came up to her, she said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m done’. Sometimes the timing is off when people come to you, and I know that as a professional rugby player. It’s not good when it happens to you, but it’s nothing personal. Other people would have taken it differently.”
The custard pie from Serena could not dull an exhilarating trip. For a sports geek like de Jongh, the Wasps centre of 19 Springbok caps, Rio was pure paradise.
“You’ve got Usain Bolt here, Serena there, Rickie Fowler and Sergio Garcia,” he tells RugbyPass. “I was like a kid in a candy box.
“Some of my mates were like, ‘Chill out, man, what are you doing?’ But I didn’t care, I knew what a moment it was being around all these people, looking up to them and what they have achieved. I had a good chat with Martin Kaymer, some of the golfers were asking how hard rugby is, fifteen guys tackling the s**t out of each other wearing no padding or helmets.
“Venus Williams was super humble, making time for everyone. Sergio as well, he was walking on the parade for Spain, and I was calling him and waving across, he didn’t know who I was, but he still came over and we had a conversation.
“To experience something like that, to call yourself an Olympic medallist, is mind-blowing. I’ve got all this footage on my phone, it’s something I’ll watch and remember for the rest of my life – especially to show my little daughter someday that, yeah, papa was a cool guy.”
Two-year-old Emily’s early days will be very different to her father’s. The youngest of four siblings, de Jongh was raised on the Western Cape amid the economic volatility of post-apartheid South Africa.
When his mother lost her job, life became a grind. Rugby boots were often beyond the family’s disposable income. So were trips to the provincial trials through which their son was beginning to motor.
“In terms of struggling to get my boots, making sure I could achieve my goals at that time, we were all going through a tough patch,” de Jongh says.
“We had one car, and I needed to go to trials, but luckily a lot of friends and family helped us out to get me where I had to go. If not, it could have been a different story and I wouldn’t be sitting here today having achieved what I have. It made me the man that I am today.”
In a land of midfield meatheads, de Jongh was petite, an effervescent little bundle of line-breaking, hot-stepping mayhem. Yet he was constantly told that 5ft 9ins and 80KG was far too puny to cut it, that he would be smashed around like a Mini Cooper careering into monster trucks.
De Jongh had the fire to shut the doubters up. He became not just a regular but a stand-out performer in the Western Province age grades and Rassie Erasmus called him up to train with the Stormers, a ticket to the big time with rock stars like Schalk Burger and Jean de Villiers. Then, at 19, disaster struck. A severe hip injury kept him out for almost a year.
“It was a massive blow aged 19, and I had to mature very quickly to get over it,” de Jongh says. “I had to gym twice a day, rehab every day. I wasn’t blessed with good DNA and a massive body so I had to keep mine strong.
On if he regretted the Cowan incident: 'No, not a single second. And if I were to relive this situation, I would do the exact same thing'
In an extract from his new book, Hard Men of Rugby, @MrLukeUpton ??? looks at the inimitable @BakkiesBotha4 https://t.co/LpKGQky9xs
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 6, 2020
“I had a quote, eight words, stuck behind my door: if it’s to be, it’s up to me. If I wanted to achieve my goals – become a Stormer, become a Springbok – then I had to put in the hard yards, not rely on anyone else.
“Another quote I always used: if size matters, why is the elephant not the king of the jungle? It doesn’t matter if you’re 19 and up against a 30-year-old, you need to make sure you are the lion, you don’t look at how he looks or how big his calves are, you put him under pressure and use your skills, try to outsmart and outwork him.
“Coaches told me to my face, ‘You will never be a Bok unless you weigh 95-100KG’. 100%, I wanted to prove people wrong. South Africans are big boys and our culture is all about being physical and aggressive.
“You have got to block that negative noise out. My positives were that I could step, fend, see gaps, pass a ball, but I also knew that being small I had to have heart. Every weekend in Super Rugby, as a young boy, it was a massive opponent. One week, it’s Sonny Bill Williams. The next, it’s Ma’a Nonu. Then it’s Adam Ashley-Cooper. You can’t be scared.”
The fearless lust to make it propelled de Jongh to Super Rugby, the Test arena, and now to Coventry, where he, wife Simone and little Emily have been for three years.
For Wasps, last season was less rollercoaster and more bucking bronco. The grim start, the sad departure of Dai Young, the chaos of Covid-19 and the blistering resurrection orchestrated by Lee Blackett. De Jongh missed swathes of the white-knuckle campaign through injury, and then struggled to infiltrate the fabulous play-making axis forged by Jacob Umaga, Jimmy Gopperth and Malakai Fekitoa.
When Fekitoa damaged his groin in the Premiership semi-final shellacking of Bristol Bears, de Jongh, from nowhere, was thrust into the line-up for the showpiece. He could not help Wasps derail the Exeter juggernaut but at last, with the new season under way, he can stake a claim to regular minutes. Throughout all this time, his positivity has never waned.
“If you focus too much on, ah, I can’t make the team, I can’t do this, injuries keep coming, all your energy in negative things you can’t control, you are going to make things so hard for yourself,” he says.
“Every day in the gym, I want to bench more this week than last, I want to challenge myself to get my GPS metres higher, pass better, the small one percent-ers that add up to a lot on the field.
“Whatever I can do to push the squad forward to go one better from last season, lifting the Premiership trophy, or even the Champions Cup.”
Five months from his 33rd birthday, there may not be many more opportunities for silverware. Perhaps, with a medal or two around his neck, Serena might take him up on the request for a photo.
Comments on RugbyPass
It’s not new for nines to be the key playmaker. For the Boks it has been common, with Fourie du Preez and Joost vd Westhuizen being obvious examples. It's also not that recent for nines to be box kicking, covering high balls in the back field, and tackling in the defensive line. For example, Faf de Klerk has been doing all of that for years.
4 Go to commentsThe hell with this constant regurgitation of what this pretty boy is doing. For all I care he might as well be doing a Jamie Oliver cooking course. Rugby is not a progression toward the NFL, which, given its prominence in your reporting, you appear to regard as the ultimate contact sport. It has virtually nothing to do with rugby, and forever may that remain the case. I know that if I don’t like it I don’t have to read it, but I’m sick of seeing this dishwater-dull nonsense.
1 Go to commentsGuys Eben did not mean it in a ugly way as it’s just a feeling he had. We Safas rate the All Blacks and no Bok player wants to play NZ in a Knockout game
140 Go to commentsHe basically described who Aaron Smith also considers the GOAT 9….the one & only Fourie du Preez😎
4 Go to commentsI’m hoping that the Reds can win their last 4 games with a couple of try bonus points. The pessimist in me wouldn't be surprised if the Drua and the Tahs knock the Reds over. The Reds may end up ruing the fact they were distinctly 2nd best against the Force and just so clunky against Moana Pasifica. The Brumbies should win all their remaining games with some bonus points giving them at least a top 2 finish as the leading Kiwi sides will take points off each other. How the Brumbies handle the fact that they will be expected to beat the Crusaders will fascinate me. You’d probably have to go back to 2001 for the last time the Brumbies would go into a game against the Crusaders odds on to win.
7 Go to commentsFree to air is the key to fan expansion. I attended last weeks game at Suncorp (Reds v Blues) and the total cost is prohibitive to most people that wish to attend. Two tickets $130, parking (event day gouging) $75, road tolls $20, dinner beforehand $130, plus some petrol and a beer inside the stadium and a single game starts to cost $300-400. Who can afford that week in week out, I’d love to go more but could only afford this one game to see the Blues, I’d have loved to have seen more NZ teams here but I’d need to stop eating or sell a kidney.
21 Go to commentsBrumbies are looking good and if they keep their home form up a final is not beyond the realms of possibility. They showed against the Hurricanes exactly how clinical they can be as they absorbed pressure in that contest while also scoring points and applying their own pressure. Reds are well placed as well but need to find consistency. They are building a longer term project with a young side and plenty of quality players. Been surprising to see the strength of Aussie sides this year after the debacle of the world cup. Have NZ sides gotten weaker? Have Aussie sides gotten stronger? A bit of both I would say. Whatever the case its good to see some actual competition between NZ and Aus sides again and thats exactly what the fans wanted and is probably driving better viewership numbers. All of this can only be healthy for Aus and Super Rugby and I hope the Brumbies go all the way.
7 Go to commentsDead time reductions are important as is ball in play time increases. Premiership leads the way in terms of ball in play and Northern refereeing standards around the breakdown has sped up the game significantly. Super Rugby is trying new things but its not leading the way in terms of making gains in reducing dead time and ball in play time. Northern administrators are also not against speeding up the game, on the contrary they want a faster game and have been trying things and are embracing increasing the speed of rugby. Super Rugby isnt providing a blueprint for anything, its just part the agreed upon blueprint that administrators across the world are moving to.
21 Go to commentsSome interesting stats that just proved what my first impression of NZ’s drive to speed up Rugby Union would amount to - fine margins here and there to cut a few seconds off the game and nothing else. To do more there would have to be wholesale changes to the game like doing away with scrums, lineouts and bringing back the ELV’s to have free kicks instead of penalties. Very little chance of it happening but, in the end, Ruby Union would be a 15-man version of Rugby League. There are reasons why Rugby Union is globally more popular that Rugby League and what NZ are also not considering is the unintended consequences of what they want to achieve. This will end up turning Rugby Union into a low value product that will not be acceptable to the paying public. If people really wanted a sped-up version of rugby, then why is Rugby Union globally way more popular than Rugby League? Rugby lovers all over the world are also not stupid and have seen through what NZ are trying to achieve here, selfishly to bring back their glory days of dominance over every other nation and compete with Rugby League that is dominant in Australasia. NH countries just don’t have the cattle, or the fantastic weather needed to play like NZ SR franchises do so good luck to whoever has to try and convince the NH to accept going back to the days of NZ dominance and agreeing to wreck the game in the process. I have serious doubts on the validity of the TV stats presented by GP. All they did was expand the broadcasting base by putting it on free to air, not even any indication of arresting the continued drop in viewership. Match day attendance goes hand in hand with broadcast ratings so if there was an increase in the one you should expect to see it with the other. However, the drop in match day attendance is very evident to the casual highlights package viewer. The only club who looks to be getting solid attendance is the Drua. I am calling it now that NZ’s quest to speed up the game will fail and so will the vote on the 20-minute red card.
21 Go to commentsAll of these media pundits always miss the obvious whenever they analyse what is ailing or assisting the game. Rugby always has contentious points for debate when picking apart individual games and finding fault with itself. All this focus and scrutiny on “speeding up the game”, “high ball in play” etc is all contextual to the fan. As a tv viewer, if you’re absorbed into a game, regardless if your team is playing or not, more ball in play time and action are all byproducts of the contest. A good contest subliminally affects your memory in selectively remembering all the good aspects. A poor contest and your brain has switched off because its a blowout and the result is never in doubt or it’s a real chore to watch and remain engaged throughout. The URC, Top 14 and English premiership are all competitions that feel like there’s real jeopardy each week. The dominance of Super rugby by NZ teams was unhealthy from a sustainable interest perspective. You can’t fault those teams or the players, but the lack of competitions won by SA and Australian teams long term was always going to test the faith and patience of die-hard and casual fans from those regions. SANZAR took their eye off the fans and fans voted with their feet and subscriptions. They were so concerned about expanding their product they forgot the golden rule about broadcasting live sport. Viewers tune in more when there’s an atmosphere and a true contest. You need to fill stadiums to create one, host unions need to do more to service ticket buyers, and this year proves the other, there’s more interest in Super rugby this year only because more games are competitive with less foregone conclusions. All these micro statistics bandied about, only interest the bean counters and trainspotters.
21 Go to commentsThe match experience still sucks at SR games, irrespective of the game being a little quicker. Rugby has to compete with so much in the modern world, if you’re going to get people to leave their houses and pay to watch a game in winter then the experience has to be worthwhile.
21 Go to commentsIt’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
6 Go to commentsDon’t pay a blind bit of notice to Lukie… he likes the sound of his own voice and is always looking for something controversial to say. He has been banging on about Leinster's defensive system all season like he knows something Jacques Nienebar doesn’t. Which is the reason why he didn’t apply for the job obviously
16 Go to commentsWho got the benefits out of Schmidt, Lowe, Aki, and Gibson Park?
16 Go to commentsWhat’s new its a common occurrence, just the journos out there expecting a negative spin. The outcome will be beneficial to jordie and Leinster. The home grown lads hav got some experience to step up to and be more competitive, that or spend the 6 months keeping the bench warm.
16 Go to commentsI’m all for speeding up the game. But can we be certain that the slowness of the game contributed to fans walking out? I’m not so sure. Super rugby largely suffered from most fans only being able to, really, follow the games played in their own time zone. So at least a third of the fan base wasn’t engaged at any point in time. As a Saffer following SA teams in the URC - I now watch virtually every European game played on the weekend. In SR, I wouldn’t be bothered to follow the games being played on the other side of the world, at weird hours, if my team wasn’t playing. I now follow the whole tournament and not just the games in my time zone. Second, with New Zealand teams always winning. It’s like formula one. When one team dominates, people lose interest. After COVID, with SA leaving and Australia dipping in form, SR became an even greater one horse race. Thats why I think Japan’s league needs to get in the mix. The international flavor of those teams could make for a great spectacle. But surely if we believe that shaving seconds off lost time events in rugby is going to draw fans back, we should be shown some figures that supports this idea before we draw any major conclusions. Where are the stats that shows these changes have made that sort of impact? We’ve measured down to the average no. Of seconds per game. Where the measurement of the impact on the fanbase? Does a rugby “fan” who lost interest because of ball in play time suddenly have a revived interest because we’ve saved or brought back into play a matter of seconds or a few minutes each game? I doubt it. I don’t thinks it’s even a noticeable difference to be impactful. The 20 min red card idea. Agreed. Let’s give it a go. But I think it’s fairer that the player sent off is substituted and plays no further part in the game as a consequence.
21 Go to commentsThose are pretty good draws for the two top Aussie teams. I certainly wouldn't want my Chiefs to have a quarter final in Brisbane. None of the top teams will want the Crusaders.
7 Go to commentsHonestly, I am a bit lost here …. Ireland - RSA was (at least in my opinion) perhaps (from a purely technical / rugby-skills-show point of view) the pinnacle of the RWC2023 - almost flawless playing (putting aside the kicking of RSA which was the difference between the two teams), rugby at it’s very best …. if I were a Bok and after the game some Irish lads came around saying “see you in 5 weeks same place”, I definitely wouldn’t have thought of it as being in any way “arrogant”, rather a sort of jolly “if we both continue to play like this, no one could stop us” - besides, few of us fans would have, at that time, been surprised to see the same teams playing on 23 september and 28 october 2023 ….. well, we all know Ireland chose to hit a slump to keep the QF curse alive …..
140 Go to commentsThere’s value gleaned from having an All Black star running and training with your team. How many games he starts (or even where he plays in the backline) will be decided on a week by week basis based on the needs for that week. But the overall learning and growth for all concerned, I’d think, is massively beneficial. Especially for Irish players.
16 Go to commentsSon, whith just " raw athlete “ , you are able to beat “ better rugby players “ by 74 points…. May be England should recruit in athletics….
1 Go to comments