EVER since I was a kid growing up in Namibia, my biggest dream wasn’t to play for the Springboks (I was once involved in the South Africa U21s set-up) but to play at Twickenham. That might seem strange but it all stemmed from watching the Springboks in their first match against England in England, post-Apartheid. I was so taken in by the crowd, the size of the new stand that was being built and the grass and the lushness of it. Where I am from, in Walvis Bay, all you can see are sand dunes and the sea, no greenery. I watched the video of that match time and time again, and that only reinforced my desire to go and play rugby in England.
I’d already left Namibia as an 18-year-old, to go and play rugby, after my parents took me to Bloemfontein. I ended up playing for the Cheetahs as a 20-year-old. Rassie Erasmus gave me my senior debut! From there, I went to Durban but as it was a big Union, there were five or six players in my position and I never made the breakthrough with the Natal Sharks After that, I went to the Pumas.