Ruan Nortjé is quickly becoming one of the unsung heroes of the Springbok team – but for those who know him well, it shouldn’t come as a surprise.
The 26-year-old Bulls captain has had to wait for a while to be a more regular feature in the national side, following his debut in 2022.
In fact, he was out of the mix since his first Test – a 13-12 defeat to Wales in Bloemfontein – until being recalled for the Wallaby clash in Perth a few weeks ago.
It has been three victories in a row – Australia, and then New Zealand twice – and Nortjé is flourishing in the absence of injured No 5 stalwarts such as Lood de Jager and Franco Mostert.
He will run the Bok line-out once more in tomorrow’s Rugby Championship showdown with Argentina in Santiago del Estero (11pm start, SA time), and will look to build on his impressive displays in recent weeks.
He will, though, avoid squaring up to fiery Argentina No 5 Tomas Lavanini, who is known to push the boundaries, as the latter has been replaced by Pedro Rubiolo in the team named by coach Felipe Contepomi yesterday.
“Calling the line-outs and everything comes with its own type of pressure. But that’s the position I am in, and I enjoy playing in that position and I pride myself in that,” Nortjé said from Argentina this week.
“We know what a quality forward pack that we are coming up against, especially in the set piece. But for me and the pack, it is about sticking to the system, as it takes care of what we need to do, and we have confidence in our set piece.
“A lot of the guys have been prepping some of us younger guys. We have to get our mindset right for a hostile environment, and it’s going to be probably one of the most physical games we will play in during the year.
“It’s the biggest thing for us – we pride ourselves on our physicality, and it’s always a great challenge to play against Argentina.
“It’s a chance to test yourself against some of the best players in the world, and it’s a great honour to play in Argentina.”
Nortjé has had to bat away concerns about his size, despite being 2m tall and around 113kg.
He has bulked up a bit over the past 12 months, but it is his enormous work rate across the pitch that has endeared him to Bok coach Rassie Erasmus.
“Ruan has stood up. He was really number four or five in the line-up, but he has come and slotted in (well),” Erasmus said this week.
“We thought he was going to battle a bit on the physical side, but hell, he has an engine on him – he is almost like a mini-Sous (Franco Mostert). He runs all over the field. Him and Ben-Jason (Dixon) are really two guys who used their chances well.
“We wanted to really give Nicolaas (Janse van Rensburg) a chance, but unfortunately, Eben is playing this game to equal the record, and hopefully he will get the record on a home ground in Mbombela.”
Nortjé has long established himself as a Bulls stalwart, earning the United Rugby Championship ‘Ironman’ Award in the 2021/22 season for most minutes played, and being included in the URC Elite XV team in that campaign and last season as well.
Bulls director of rugby Jake White said recently that it has been wonderful to see his captain being rewarded with a Bok recall.
“Ruan is a success story if you ever want to hear one. He came from a small school (Hoërskool Wonderboom), he wasn’t a provincial player as a junior, he basically came in as a late developer through university, and now he’s played the All Blacks and beaten them in a Test match,” White said.
“He’s incredibly disciplined. He trains hard. He works hard and puts incredible amounts of detail in.
Congratulations to Ruan Nortje on winning the Iron Man award for the 2021/2022 @Vodacom #URC season 💪
Ruan has played a whopping 1394 minutes 😮 👏 pic.twitter.com/7bT5rA9Tb7
“I don’t think people are aware that he has his own laptop and analysis system, so he works hours and hours behind the scenes on his game and line-outs – and that’s why I think he can contribute like he does to the Springbok set-up.
“I’m looking forward to him coming back as well because of all the experience he picked up with the Springboks.
“He can only get better. He’s still young for a lock forward. I’m looking forward to seeing how he comes back and brings whatever he’s learned into the group.”
Argentina Team
15 Juan Cruz Mallia 14 Bautista Delguy 13 Lucio Cinti 12 Santiago Chocobares 11 Mateo Carreras 10 Tomas Albornoz 9 Gonzalo Bertranou 8 Joaquin Oviedo 7 Marcos Kremer 6 Pablo Matera 5 Pedro Rubiolo 4 Franco Molina 3 Joel Sclavi 2 Julian Montoya (captain) 1 Thomas Gallo.
Bench: 16 Ignacio Ruiz 17 Ignacio Calles 18 Pedro Delgado 19 Guido Petti 20 Juan Martin Gonzalez 21 Gonzalo Garcia 22 Santiago Carreras 23 Matias Moroni.