When you’ve been in rugby for as long as Ruhan Nel has, you would know all the tricks and tools of the trade.
But that doesn’t mean it is any easier, especially when having to recover from a serious knee ligament injury.
Nel has had a stellar career with the Stormers after becoming a Blitzbok stalwart, having first made his way into senior rugby at the Pumas, Lions and Griquas.
But it was a New Year’s Eve to forget for the 33-year-old centre as he had to go off on a medical cart in the 16-15 win over the Sharks at Cape Town Stadium on December 31.
Surgery and months of rehab followed, and Nel finally returned to the pitch in last week’s warm-up game against the Pumas in Mbombela.
He came through unscathed to be passed fit for tomorrow’s United Rugby Championship opener against the Ospreys in Swansea (8.35pm start).
“It’s been a long nine months, so I’m just looking forward to getting stuck in. The nerves are there, obviously – not necessarily about the playing, but you just want everything to go smoothly with the knee and body,” Nel said from Wales this week.
“But last week did me good, getting 40 minutes on the pitch against the Pumas as they are a quality outfit as well.
“It also had a bit of altitude. It wasn’t Joburg, but it was good to just run around a bit and find confidence in the knee.
“It is almost a feeling of nerves, because it’s been a while and you want everything to go well.
“But I have been fortunate enough with my rehab to always be integrated with team training.
“It wasn’t like in the past where your rehab was almost on your own, because there was the Currie Cup and URC at the same time, and in the off-season, there was no one at the HPC (High Performance Centre).
“I was fortunate that by the time I could get on the field, the Currie Cup boys were training already, so luckily I’ve had that rugby training in for quite a while.
“It’s obviously different to playing in a Stormers jersey, so a bit of the nerves ... It does feel like a bit of a debut, but also not too strange.”
Stormers coach John Dobson will announce his team today, and has a number of options at No 13 to partner tour captain Dan du Plessis in midfield.
Apart from Nel, Wandisile Simelane will hope to get some game time on the trip, while Suleiman Hartzenberg – who has excelled at wing previously – is actually an outside centre hoping to make a breakthrough in that position this season.
Nel welcomed the “internal competition”, adding that “it forces you to never become complacent”.
😮💨 We've scored some absolute beauties against the Ospreys and will be looking to add a few more this weekend in our first game of the new @Vodacom #URC season. #iamastormer #dhldelivers pic.twitter.com/AGczofLgRG
— DHL Stormers (@THESTORMERS) September 25, 2024
But as the defensive leader of the backline, he will hope that the Stormers can make a strong start in that regard against the Ospreys, who have been a bit of a bogey team for the visitors, having won in Cape Town last April and held them to a 16-16 draw in Swansea in 2022.
They will also be keen to overturn the results of last November’s European tour, where they lost all four games against Glasgow, Munster, Benetton and Cardiff, and the addition of Springbok flank Ben-Jason Dixon this week comes at the right time as well.
“We’ve got a couple of new guys on tour, and a couple of older guys who haven’t played in a while. JD (Schickerling, lock) is back with us, so he and Ruben (van Heerden, lock) are finding a combination on his first tour with us,” Nel said.
“Keke Morabe (loose forward) has been out for a while, so there are a lot of new guys playing for the Stormers on tour, so it’s about finding that cohesion on the field.
“We are trying to perfect that game model on the field, but also spending some time together off it. It’s well-documented how Dobbo (Dobson) likes a happy team, so it’s a nice opportunity for us as players over three weeks to get to know each other better.”