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New Emirates Western Force flyhalf Andre Pretorius is excited at what lies ahead as he begins his post-Johannesburg Super 14 career and the quality of the squad has him looking forward to it.
The 30-year-old has played his whole career up to now in Johannesburg with the Lions and has represented the Springboks including being part of the 2007 World Cup winning team, but when the Force came calling ahead of 2010 he jumped at the chance of a new lease on his career in Perth.
He already has established a good relationship with coach John Mitchell despite having only been with the group a week since finishing up Currie Cup duties back home, and is excited by both the experienced and youthful members of the Force squad.
"I see myself learning more from certain individuals and coaches here, and using that to the best of my ability," he said.
"The whole squad is exciting. We've got Nathan Sharpe not training with us at the moment because he's doing his own thing, but he's a remarkable figure in international rugby. Then it's exciting to see young players like Stefano Hunt and I'm looking forward to playing with them all."
Pretorius had never considered playing away from home, but with the Lions once again making a host of off-field changes at the end of the 2009 season, he decided he didn’t want to battle through another rebuilding campaign and was keen to embark on a new journey.
Coming to Perth is something he never dreamed of, but he's glad to be here.
"It's exciting and it's definitely not something I would have backed my money on about five years ago, but it's truly exciting and it's nice to be with a professional set up like the Force," he said.
"Even about two years ago I would never have put my money on being in Australia to play, but it has happened, and happened for a reason and I'm looking forward to finding out what that reason is."
Pretorius hasn’t joined in full training with the group minus the Wallabies players just yet, but has watched on in some amazement at just how tough the gruelling grappling sessions have been.
"I'm not in full training yet, I'm still getting some screening and testing done to see where my body is. One thing they do really well here is manage players, and I'm one of the managed players at the moment. I'm not taking it easy, though, and I'm working hard, but not as hard as the other blokes at the moment. I'll get there though," he said.
"Unfortunately I did go and watch one session and I haven’t been able to sleep since. It is quite intense, but the benefits will speak for itself. It's something that the whole team should get involved with because the benefits will be huge. John Mitchell has spoken to us about it, we've all bought and it will be really good for us."
Pretorius certainly doesn’t want to buy into comparing the Force and Lions, but does hope he learns plenty from being in the new environment and seeing how it helps or changes his game.
"I've been with the Lions for about 11 years and haven’t played for any other union. I started my rugby in Jo'burg and finished my South African career to date there, and now I'm here," he said.
"I wouldn’t like to comment on the differences between the two clubs, but I would like to see a difference in my own style of play and way of thinking because you get to learn a lot more from different people. I wouldn’t like to compare the clubs, but rather where I was and where I will be."
http://rugbywa.com.au/news/article,56655.html
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Originally Posted by pieter blackie
