Hanekom gets battered, but wants to do more battering himself

Cameron Hanekom had to have a chuckle, especially when his first question this week was about the amount of times he was down against Munster in the Vodacom Bulls’ victory in Limerick last week.

After all, Hanekom is a player who plays at full tilt - and never seems to hold back. That has meant he has taken some body blows, so much so that the team winces every time he goes down.

But somehow he mostly gets back up again, and has made a massive impression not only on the way the Bulls play, but the way opposition teams focus on him as well.

Hanekom smiled and said, “Sometimes it takes me a bit longer to recover from the hits”, as his fellow loose forward Marcell Coetzee smiled knowingly next to him.

But as soon as that was out of the way, Hanekom made sure that everyone knew his goal for Friday night’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship showdown against Glasgow Warriors - to prove a point.

And it is the attention to detail in the week that will help the one-test Springbok to make a bigger impression.

“For me, detail is everything. Going through their clips, analysing how they play, what their players do in specific roles and the parts of the field and stuff like that,” he said.

“That gives me a lot of confidence: having a bigger picture of what they could do on the day.

“When we all fight for each other, it helps me mentally, knowing that the brother next to me has got my back – so I can go in flat-out, because the guy next to me is not going to drop me.

“Most of their players have played international rugby, so it’s going to be a good match-up. You want those big names to play against us – that’s who you want to get measured against. No disrespect to them as they are great players, but we are definitely going to go out there and try to prove a point.”

And part of that point is his combination with Coetzee, with the latter putting in a man-of-the-match shift with an incredible 31 tackles last weekend. Hanekom said he needed to lift his game to ensure he doesn’t disappoint his fellow loosie.

'RAISE MY GAME'

“If I play with a guy like Marcell, who makes 31 tackles, then I need to raise my game so I don’t disappoint him. He’s a good role model. Tackling has been my biggest work-on. There were a couple games where I wasn’t good enough in that area and I’ve worked hard to be more consistent.”

Hanekom said he was learning a lot about his timing and when to hit rucks and when to hold back. As he gets better, he hopes he will be rewarded more.

“The decision-making is the key. You only get a split second or half-gap to decide whether you will go for it or fold to get width on defence. In the past, I’ve made some silly mistakes and went into too many rucks and didn’t get rewarded for it.

“You are not always going to get the reward, but having confidence going into it and knowing that you are going to give your absolute best. You can’t go half-hearted into breakdowns, but I don’t want my defence just to be based on breakdowns, so I’ve been trying to improve on tackling more.

“There are some games where you don’t get the ball as often. Just trying to get yourself in the right position on the field, working hard to get there as well. Nothing is going to be given to you.

“That’s why I also saw after Edinburgh, to just be able to tackle-fight through that contact. Also sometimes just shifting the point of contact would also help us if four people come onto me, and I can play a little pass or so. It’s just trying to get that variation of what to do and when to do it.”

Come Friday night, Bulls fans will hope for a bigger shift from Hanekom, and some good combinations with Coetzee and his fellow teammates. If they can do that, they have a good chance at upsetting the home ground momentum that Glasgow have.

And it gives them a chance to claim second spot on the log with just two rounds to go.