Deon Fourie thought his Springbok dreams were dead
Deon Fourie believed that his time to play for the Springboks was up before he received his first call-up in July 2022.
Springbok flanker and hooker Deon Fourie believed that his time to play for the national team was up before he received his first call-up in July 2022.
Fourie went abroad after several attempts to break into the Springboks failed in his estimation.
DEON FOURIE’S SPRINGBOK JOURNEY
He moved overseas after winning the 2012 Currie Cup with Western Province, feeling that he should experience rugby elsewhere.
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“That was one of the biggest reasons why I moved overseas because I had a good year in 2012, I was Currie Cup player of the year, but I just couldn’t get the breakthrough into the national squad,” Deon Fourie explained in an interview with Planet Rugby.
“So that’s why I thought now I’m getting to 27/28, so maybe go see what’s it like overseas and just experience life a bit more on that side.
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“But in fairness, there were such good players in the Boks in Schalk Burger and Flo (Francois Louw) and Duane [Vermeulen]. So to crack through that, to get into the Boks was difficult, but I realise that I’m a realist. So sometimes, just look at the bigger picture.
“At one camp, I met Heyneke quickly, but he didn’t say anything to me [about selection]. So yeah, I don’t know what his point of view was. Probably, that I was too small back then for him, compared to those Bulls boys, so he was more looking for that style of play, and I didn’t suit that, and I respect that, so yeah, that’s why I decided to move overseas.
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“It’s the prerogative of each coach’s style of coaching, and that’s what they believe in, and yeah, you have to respect that.”
LYON TAUGHT THE FUTURE SPRINGBOK WELL
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Deon Fourie says that his time at Lyon was great for his rugby and his life experience in general.
“I actually had a deal with Toulon at the end of 2012, but something went wrong there, and it fell through the net, and the opportunity came to go to Lyon because they just got promoted to the Top 14. But it turned out to be a really good experience, so I’m glad we made that decision.
“I think definitely it was a bit slower back then,” Fourie said about the quality of the league. “It’s faster now compared back then to Super Rugby and stuff, but it’s really hard.
“I think back, and the quality of players in the Top 14 was massive; the Matt Giteaus, Drew Mitchells and all those who played for Toulon, the standard of overall players was good. Stars that you saw when you were young, and then you got the opportunity to play against them.”
THE COMEBACK
In 2021, he would return to Cape Town in a bid to finish his career at home. Little did he know that he would be a Springbok just a year later.
“I felt that I still had a few years of good rugby left in me but I was stuck in the second division in France. I wanted to come back home, we had two kids in France and we missed our friends and our family,” he said.
“So I started looking around in Cape Town, I emailed a few guys and they were keen to bring me back, and then, the rest is history.”