Akker van der Merwe hopes to score more tries for the Bulls against the Stormers, having dotted down 12 times last season. Photo: BackpagePix
Akker van der Merwe may be 33, he doesn’t feel like he’s 33.
How should a 33-year-old rugby player feel anyway?
That is a question the robust Bulls hooker hopes to answer emphatically in Saturday’s United Rugby Championship showdown with the Stormers at the Cape Town Stadium (2pm start).
Van der Merwe is the older brother of Scotland wing Duhan, who has been a revelation at international level over a number of years.
Yet Akker played the last of his three Springbok Tests all the way back in 2018, and he yearns to return to the highest level.
He even decided to come back home from a successful stint at Sale Sharks in Manchester, and subsequently scored 12 tries for the Bulls last season to be the second-highest on the URC list as the Pretoria side made it all the way to the final – where they went down 21-16 to Glasgow at Loftus Versfeld.
But Van der Merwe had to watch his fellow Bulls hookers, Johan Grobbelaar and Jan-Hendrik Wessels, feature for the world champions last year.
That hasn’t deterred him, though, from aiming to wear the green-and-gold again.
Asked this week if Bok coach Rassie Erasmus has contacted him over the last few years, Van der Merwe replied: “Unfortunately, I haven’t (heard from Rassie).
“I know you said that obviously I’m 33, but I don’t look into my age – I still feel good.
“I don’t feel like a 33-year-old should feel... or I don’t know! I feel confident, and I think that when the time is right, maybe then he’ll (Rassie) will have another look.
“Like I said last season, I’m not just coming to South Africa to go through the motions. I feel like I can still add a lot of value, and I obviously still want to play for the Springboks.
“But just staying positive and trying my best, so that the Bulls can succeed.”
That last line is crucial, as it is only through dominant performances for Jake White’s team that Van der Merwe can knock the Bok door down.
He will have a perfect opportunity to do just that against the Stormers this weekend, as the Capetonians boast two Bok hookers themselves in Joseph Dweba and André-Hugo Venter.
The Bulls have regained their confidence with wins over Stade Francais and the Lions in recent weeks following a four-game losing streak.
But they have only won one out of eight encounters against the Stormers, which was last March at Loftus Versfeld.
Van der Merwe, though, believes that their challenges in getting past the Stormers are behind them, and that the Bulls have the ability to record their first URC triumph in Cape Town.
“We were a bit unlucky to lose those four games. I think it was just something that needed to click, and in the last two games, it has started to click,” the former Lions No 2 said.
“I think it’s rather fine margins. We created a lot of opportunities, but just didn’t execute those. We didn’t convert the pressure into points, and I think that was the difference in the last two games.
“I only got to the Bulls at the start of last season, but I almost felt that it was more a mental block than anything else.
“I believe that win at Loftus has now made it an equal playing field. So, we are very confident about the weekend.”
Talking about those 12 tries from last season, Van der Merwe was asked whether the Bulls should try to set up a few more lineouts for him to dot down from those mauls, and he said with a smile: “I also think so! I think I’m a few tries behind where I was last season (currently on two).
“Every derby game is a completely different beast to playing an overseas team.
“Obviously there is a lot more emotion, pride, heritage going into the games, so we know it’s going to be a massive battle.
“It’s about making sure that everyone knows their role, and executes their basics, and make sure that we take them on as a pack, and not as individuals – as I think that’s where the difference might come in.
“If we don’t play as a team, it might get difficult. We can’t stand around and wait for something to happen before we catch a wake-up.”
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