Lions’ 120kg, 19-year-old Junior Bok demolishes one of NH’s strongest carriers
No one does that to Hamish Watson. At least no one did until yesterday, when Lions flanker Ruan Venter picked up and drove the British & Irish Lion back.
The Edinburgh and Scotland flanker has quite a reputation for bouncing players back in his iconic pinball style, but he had no such luck at the DAM Health Stadium on Friday night in the United Rugby Championship, as Venter made it look like men against boys. The craziest thing is, the South African is only 19 years of age.
Venter will certainly be a player to look out for this season, and Watson will attest to that. Not only was he driven back in the first quarter of the match by the Junior Bok, but he was actually forced from the field early in the second half after attempting to go high on Venter, who sent him flying about two metres backwards.
This was on the way to the Lions winning 22-19.
TAS Analytics have shared a video of these two collisions, take a look:
They wrote on YouTube: “I have no idea how Ruan Venter is only 19 years old, he is one of the strongest rugby players I’ve seen in quite some time. The why he is able to bounce of tacklers is incredible, not to mention the fact that he is so young playing in the most physical demanding position in rugby. Everyone knows Hamish Watson is an incredible rugby player but in this instance, he got absolutely destroyed by Ruan Venter. I think after this game people will start to realize it is not smart to try and tackle him at chest level because you will come 2nd.
“This was an incredible game by the Lions and it showed the talent they have in their squad. Players like Ruan, Henco van Wyk, Quan Horn, Francke Horn, Jordan Hendrikse are going to be a core to this team, and so far they’ve shown that they have the talent to compete against big teams. This three game tour of the Lions is only going to increase their confidence.”
Edinburgh Rugby: Henry Immelman, Darcy Graham, Matt Currie, James Lang, Emiliano Boffelli, Blair Kinghorn, Henry Pyrgos, Boan Venter, Stuart McInally, Luan de Bruin, Glen Young, Grant Gilchrist (CAPT), Luke Crosbie, Hamish Watson, Viliame Mata
Replacements: Dave Cherry, Pierre Schoeman, WP Nel, Marshall Sykes, Ben Muncaster, Charlie Shiel Charlie Savala, Chris Dean
Emirates Lions: Andries Coetzee, Stean Pienaar, Henco van Wyk, Marius Louw, Quan Horn, Gianni Lombard, Sanele Nohamba, Sti Sithole, PJ Botha, Ruan Dreyer, Pieter Jansen van Vuren, Reinhard Nothnagel (CAPT), Sibusiso Sangweni, Ruan Venter, Francke Horn
Replacements: Jaco Visagie, JP Smith, Ruan Smith, Emmanuel Tshituka, Ruhan Straeuli, Morne van den Berg, Jordan Hendrikse, Zander du Plessis
