Roos learning to enjoy rugby again after Springbok snub
09/19/2024 02:31 AM
Evan Roos is finally ready to lay his ghosts of the recent past to rest and shift his focus solely on producing optimum performance for the Stormers.
After a mercurial rise at the Stormers, Roos was thrust onto the international rugby stage at the tender age of 22 when he made his Test debut for the Springboks against Wales, in a game South Africa lost 13-12 in Bloemfontein.
Since then, he has only amassed six more caps, for a grand total of seven Springbok appearances between 2022 and 2024, after his international career trajectory took a dip following his omission from South Africa’s Rugby World Cup squad and then more recently from the Rugby Championship squad.
That opened a window of opportunity for Roos to have a recurring shoulder injury checked out and to compound his misery, doctors advised him to undergo corrective surgery and informed him the medical procedure would see him miss the Stormers’ start to the new season as it would keep him sidelined until December.
Speaking during an Investec Champions Cup media engagement in Cape Town this week, Roos revealed how his Springbok snub shocked him to the core, but how it also helped him gain a different perspective on life as a rugby player and shaped his outlook on things on and off the field.
EVAN ROOS OPENS UP ON HOW BOK SNUB AFFECTED HIM
"Being dropped out of the Bok side just before the World Cup and getting injured in the middle of the season, so I've been too hard on myself and pushed myself,” Roos admitted.
"The mentality in the beginning was quite tough and also a bit of a shock. You are part of the Springboks set-up and all of a sudden you are not. You see the Springboks doing well, beating New Zealand twice, the match in Cape Town, so mentally it does affect you.
"However, if you are grounded well, have a good foundation and are focused on the things that matter in your life and not the materialistic stuff, you are better off.
"I think if you put your whole identity into rugby, you can fall off the bandwagon quite quickly."
INJURY BRINGS SHIFT IN MENTALITY FOR EVAN
When asked for an update on his recovery, Roos visibly lit up with excitement as he shared that there had been no setbacks and he is on track for a comeback in estimated timeframe doctors gave him.
"The operation went really well. Luckily out of the sling quickly, the shoulder is very mobile,” he boosted. “I started small gym movements as well. I'm almost running again. Every day, time ticks on."
And having fallen down the Springbok pecking order, one would expect Roos to want to prove himself and regain that green and gold No. 8 jersey now that his injury struggles are in the past. But loose forward revealed that Test rugby is the furthest thing from his mind at the moment.
During this injury layoff, Roos had ample time to do introspection of what he wants out rugby in the short term and came to the conclusion that his had to regain his love and enjoyment of the game before all else.
"I want to keep working on what I have achieved so far and just get better at the small technical aspects and those things that come with experience," Roos explained.
"I also want to enjoy my rugby again. I have been hard on myself this past year and a half.
"I think I do stupid things, try too hard, so my mentality now when I go back is to enjoy it. Play well for the Stormers and if the Boks need me I will enjoy it there.
"But that is not my mindset now. Obviously, it is at the back of my mind but I first just want to enjoy my rugby playing for the union in Cape Town and hopefully afterwards at the Boks."
WILL EVAN ROOS BE THE SPRINGBOKS’ LONG-TERM NO 8?
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