Loftus celebrated South Africa’s fiercest traditional rugby derby between the Bulls and the Stormers yesterday, but the biggest individual victory was a shared result in the guise of Marco van Staden and Deon Fourie.
What warriors, whose fight defines every bit of folklore and storytelling about a match-up, first played in 1891.
Van Staden and Fourie are both World Cup winners and title winners with the Bulls and Stormers, respectively, but both could easily have been content with the glory of that spectacular night in Paris in 2023 when the Boks became back-to-back World Cup winners.
Van Staden was a squad member, and Fourie played a leading role in the 12-11 final win against the All Blacks, replacing the injured Bongi Mbonambi for the final 77 minutes and then captaining the Boks in those thrilling final three minutes.
Van Staden played his 100th match for the Bulls, having been released from his Leicester club contract a few years ago when their ownership was not convinced he’d recover from recurring concussion issues.
‘Eskom’ and ‘Brannas’
He did more than recover; he won a World Cup and has been an integral part of the Bulls.
Van Staden’s nickname is “Eskom” because of his ability to bring darkness to the breakdown in a manner only rivalled by loadshedding. In short, he puts the lights out when it comes to quick-cycled opposition phase ball.
Fourie’s nickname is “Brannas” because of his ability to give the opposition a headache.
These two veterans, one closer to 30 than 40 and the other a few months shy of 40, represent everything that can’t be coached into a player: fight, heart, desire and the absolute denial that they are ever beaten.
These two flankers play to the ball, spending their match in the darkest alleys fighting a war zone few could appreciate unless they’ve been there.
What a joy to observe their respective journeys and experience their careers with the Bulls, the Stormers, and the Boks.
What a privilege to tell their story because both are throwbacks to a tribal era where player presence was measured in grit and not necessarily in brand market value.
Neither is a poster boy, and neither wants to be.
The legendary Doc Danie Craven famously said that the way to identify a forward and a back in rugby is to get a group of six-year-olds together in a huddle and throw the ball in the air.
Those, he said, who scattered and distanced themselves from where the ball landed would be backs and those who fought the huddle to claim the ball would be your forwards.
I don’t have to tell you which option Van Staden and Fourie instinctively took as six-year-olds.
These two flankers play to the ball, spending their match in the darkest alleys fighting a war zone few could appreciate unless they’ve been there.
Not obvious to the eye
Former Springboks captain and flanker Corne Krige, who also specialised in playing to the ball, winning turnovers and slowing down opposition phase ball, said there was the match played between the 30 players, and then there was a match of a very different kind, played at the bottom of a ruck within that same game, which was not obvious to the spectator’s eye.
These two men wear the scars of their position and the injury risk because the intensity of their role comes packaged with the highest attrition rate in the game. But on Saturday, both were there, defiant against injury and Father Time. In Fourie’s case, when carried off with a season-ending injury in 2024, he said his career would not end, leaving the DHL Stadium on a golf cart.
He fought back from nearly a year on the sidelines, only to suffer another long-term injury.
Why fight to get back to Loftus in March 2026 at age 39?
For exactly the same reason he fought to be there for that final scrum in Paris in 2023.
Equally Van Staden. Why the risk?
Both won’t give you an answer but their actions will scream the answer: where others fear risk, their careers are inspired by reward.
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