'André Venter Effect' shows how Test Rugby vastly improves players
There is a belief that players dominate club rugby after playing in Tests. But is it true?
Picture: Pixabay.com
John Maytham speaks to Craig Ray, Sports Editor at Daily Maverick.
André Gerhardus Venter is a former South African rugby flank who earned 66 caps playing for the South African national team during the mid-to-late 1990s and early 2000s. He played for Mzansi during the 1999 Rugby World Cup.
During his time as a professional rugby player, he became a legend for the 'André Venter Effect', a phenomenon Ray explains in his latest article in the Daily Maverick.
So, what is the 'Andre Venter Effect?'
"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," writes Ray.
To sum it up, it's all about growing in confidence and psychological strength as a rugby player through Test Rugby.
"Some players grow an arm and a leg when they play Test Rugby."
- Craig Ray, Daily Maverick - Sports Editor
Some players are good Test and provincial players, but many look that much better at every level after Test matches, adds Ray.
"I always think the greatest Test players are the ones that get better the higher they go.
"So you might have a player who is an excellent URC player and they become an even more dominant test player... and then you have a few that are good Test players but brilliant at provincial games because of their short exposure to Test rugby."
"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."
- Craig Ray, Daily Maverick - Sports Editor
Read Ray's full article here.
Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.