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London – Springbok loose forward Willem Alberts has scored three tries in three Test starts as a substitute - and one shudders to think what he could be capable of when he gets his first Test start for South Africa.
The 115 kg human bulldozer is fast building up a reputation as a super-sub. However, he believes his try scoring feats are just a result of teamwork.
“Whenever I go onto the field I just try to do my best. I think it was just a matter of being at the right place at the right time," he said of his try against England on Saturday.
“Luckily it came at a time when we really needed the points. Even though I scored the try, I still believe it was just a big team effort,” he said after the Springboks convincingly beat England 21-11 at Twickenham.
“I think I have played about 100 minutes thus far, but because I came on as a replacement in the last three Test matches, my legs were a bit fresher than the other guys'.
“I was able to get myself into positions where the other players maybe were a bit tired. But it still comes down to the performance of the team. They do the hard work and allow the gaps to open. All I had to do was just dive over the try line,” he said modestly.
On the Boks' failure to capitalise on the many scoring opportunities in the first half he said: “Yes, we spoke about it at half time. We had quite a few opportunities that we did not use. We could have made it easier on ourselves had we capitalised on the many scoring opportunities in the first half.
"But in the second half we made the most of our chances and the end of the day we got the win.”
The 26-year-old Sharks loose forward says the Springbok end-of-year tour to the United Kingdom and Ireland has been the highlight of his life thus far.
“Coming on the tour and performing well was one on my goals. So far it has gone well. But we were all obviously not happy with last week’s performance against Scotland,” he said.
He believes, however, it was not a case of what might have been against Scotland.
“It’s not about how many times you fall, but how you stand up. We can definitely take a lot of positives for next year from this tour.
"The guys really stood up to be counted on Saturday.
“I think it was a great Test victory, and if we can use this platform to go forward we will be difficult to stop in the future,” he added.
London – Springbok loose forward Willem Alberts has scored three tries in three Test starts as a substitute - and one shudders to think what he could be capable of when he gets his first Test start for South Africa.
The 115 kg human bulldozer is fast building up a reputation as a super-sub. However, he believes his try scoring feats are just a result of teamwork.
“Whenever I go onto the field I just try to do my best. I think it was just a matter of being at the right place at the right time," he said of his try against England on Saturday.
“Luckily it came at a time when we really needed the points. Even though I scored the try, I still believe it was just a big team effort,” he said after the Springboks convincingly beat England 21-11 at Twickenham.
“I think I have played about 100 minutes thus far, but because I came on as a replacement in the last three Test matches, my legs were a bit fresher than the other guys'.
“I was able to get myself into positions where the other players maybe were a bit tired. But it still comes down to the performance of the team. They do the hard work and allow the gaps to open. All I had to do was just dive over the try line,” he said modestly.
On the Boks' failure to capitalise on the many scoring opportunities in the first half he said: “Yes, we spoke about it at half time. We had quite a few opportunities that we did not use. We could have made it easier on ourselves had we capitalised on the many scoring opportunities in the first half.
"But in the second half we made the most of our chances and the end of the day we got the win.”
The 26-year-old Sharks loose forward says the Springbok end-of-year tour to the United Kingdom and Ireland has been the highlight of his life thus far.
“Coming on the tour and performing well was one on my goals. So far it has gone well. But we were all obviously not happy with last week’s performance against Scotland,” he said.
He believes, however, it was not a case of what might have been against Scotland.
“It’s not about how many times you fall, but how you stand up. We can definitely take a lot of positives for next year from this tour.
"The guys really stood up to be counted on Saturday.
“I think it was a great Test victory, and if we can use this platform to go forward we will be difficult to stop in the future,” he added.
