Bok selection and belief — when the 'André Venter effect' sees players soar to the next level

André Venter in action for the Cheetahs in 2002. (Photo: Duif du Toit / Gallo Images)

8 Oct 2024

The best players in the world get better as the level and pressure rises. And when they play at a lower level, they dominate.

In the mid-1990s a little known Free State flank named André Venter delivered some strong performances for the Cheetahs (before they were known as the Cheetahs).

He had only just come on to the scene and wasn’t initially on then-Springbok coach André Markgraaff’s selection radar. But injury to captain Francois Pienaar in the first of a three-Test series against the All Blacks, earned Venter a surprise call-up.

The Boks lost that series but Venter took his game to another level in the Test arena. When he returned to domestic rugby to compete for Free State (as they were then known) in the Currie Cup, he looked a different player.

He simply dominated players in a lower level in ways he hadn’t done before his Bok call-up.

That is the beauty of Test rugby. Some players get better as the standard of the game rises, and others don’t. When the ones in the former category return to domestic or franchise rugby, they suddenly look like a different breed of athlete.

New confidence

In recent times there have been plenty of examples like Venter.

Think of Kurt-Lee Arendse and Canan Moodie. Both were called up to the Boks on the back of strong performances for the Bulls. But it’s fair to say coach Jacques Nienaber (at the time as Bok coach) gambled slightly.

Both players have excelled at Test level and like Venter, were even better at the highest level. By the time they returned to the Bulls their mentality and belief was on a stratospheric plain.

Since the start of the 2024/2025 Vodacom United Rugby Championship (URC), we’re witnessing a similar pattern with some new Boks.

Staying at the Bulls, lock Ruan Nortjé, consistently good for two seasons at club level, has returned to URC action in 2024 as a world-class player.

Ruan Nortjé is one of several Bok players who have taken their game to the next level since their Test call-up. (Photo: Juan Jose Gasparini / Gallo Images)

His confidence after an extended run with the Boks through the 2024 Rugby Championship has elevated his game to an elite level.

It’s not only some significant moments and the consistently high standard of play, but players who have gone through the Venter metamorphosis appear to command more respect. They just ooze confidence and authority on the field. Nortjé is firmly in this camp now.

It hasn’t gone unnoticed by Bulls coach Jake White, either.

“Look at how Ruan (Nortjé) matured in the game and took control of the team and how composed they were,” White said after the Bulls beat Ulster 47-21 in their URC clash last weekend.

“That also pleases a coach as well because there are other growth areas we’re excelling in, and that’s one of them, especially leadership.

“He’s still a relative leadership novice, but having him there to talk to the referee and the players mattered.

“Of the guys, he’s the one who has grown the most since I’ve been here. He’s played and beaten the All Blacks twice in the Rugby Championship, and that’s impressive from a guy who once was a nobody.

“He played club rugby and people wondered if he was heavy enough and, in the manner he finished the game, he looked like he was fresh.

“I'm really pleased for him, and he’s only going to get better for us.”

Authority and belief

Prop Gerhard Steenekamp is another who is reaping the mental and physical benefits of realising that he can thrive at the highest level.

He was excellent for the Boks off the bench through most of the Rugby Championship, and is back at the Bulls with a new commanding presence.

Gerhard Steenekamp of the Springboks during their Castle Lager Rugby Championship match against New Zealand at Emirates Airline Park on 31 August in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo: Anton Geyser / Gallo Images)

“He’s cut his beard, and he said it’s the first time he hasn’t had a double chin,” White said of Steenekamp. “If you look back to four years ago, Steenekamp was here and he was young, along with the other guys.

“All of a sudden, this group is maturing and starting to become bigger, stronger, older and wiser. He’ll still take time because props aren’t at their best in their 20s, and he’s now maturing.

“He can scrum at Test level, and that’s fantastic for us as a franchise.”

Just down the highway at Ellis Park, the Lions have suddenly seen a clutch of new Boks take a step up.

Utility back Quan Horn, who made his Test debut against Portugal, scoring a try, has always had potential. But now he appears to have something else – authority.

André Venter in action for the Cheetahs in 2002. (Photo: Duif du Toit / Gallo Images)

Bruising lock/flank Ruan Venter, another of the Portugal debutants, appears to have grown an arm while scrumhalf Morné van den Berg is also brimming and fizzing with confidence.

At the Sharks, utility back Jordan Hendrikse, despite one Test cap earned against Wales earlier this year, is a new man.

And even players such as centres Ethan Hooker and Henco van Wyk from the Sharks and Lions respectively, who did not play Tests this year but were part of the wider Bok training group, have a swagger about them.

The success of the Boks is a huge factor in the growth of these players. But it’s more than winning and losing at Test level.

For these individuals, and some others such as Stormers wing Suleiman Hartzenberg, it’s the belief that they are good enough through their exposure at the highest level that has given them a psychological boost.

It’s one of those fortunate spin-offs of recognition that not all players will be lucky enough to have, and even fewer will grow from.

André Venter did. And so too are a bunch of players of this generation. DM

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New confidence

Authority and belief