Roodt relishes Bulls challenge
Former Bulls lock Hendrik Roodt can’t wait to face Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield on his return to Loftus for the Waratahs.
Roodt gave up rugby earlier this year as he had limited opportunities under the Bok second row pairing, but might play for the Tahs in round three of the Super 14 in Pretoria. Botha is currently battling injury but Roodt said he wouldn’t be intimidated if he has to face either of the pair on 27 February.
When coach Chris Hickey asked him his thoughts on facing Botha and Matfield, he said, ‘I’m big too’.
‘It would be quite strange because they are like my role models,’ 22-year-old Roodt told the Sydney Morning Herald. ‘I look up to them. [But] they are also just flesh and bones like me. They have much more experience, but then, you have to start to learn somewhere. I would be privileged to play them.
‘I don’t think the Loftus crowd will give me that hard a time but I have gone to another country, to another team, so you can expect anything.’
Roodt said he thought his rugby career was over before being offered the move to Sydney.
‘I thought it was a closed door,’ he said of playing behind Matfield and Botha, who are in their 30s. ‘I played a lot of rugby in the Vodacom Cup, and I still enjoyed my rugby, but I thought, “What am I going to do after my rugby?” So I started working.’
Roodt had played for the Emerging Boks in the IRB Nations Cup, and says their match against the British & Irish Lions inspired him once more. He got a phone call from his agent, and then he realised he had to get back into shape.
‘My weight when they called me was 142kg. I came down to 130 and I am now at 126, just a few kilos to go – 121kg is my optimum weight to play at.’
Roodt is now optimistic about playing for the Wallabies.
‘If I get the opportunity I would love to.’
December 3rd, 2009 at 8:14 am
good for you dude.
December 3rd, 2009 at 8:16 am
if you get going, just remember you are indeed actually a saffer.
Not a wobbly.
December 3rd, 2009 at 8:42 am
Good luck son, now remember anything over 125kg, even for your height is a bit of a porker
December 3rd, 2009 at 9:22 am
142kg lock
LOL
December 3rd, 2009 at 9:29 am
Plonker!
December 3rd, 2009 at 10:13 am
#4. Vleis Visage
December 3rd, 2009 at 10:41 am
I think this guy must be really dumb! He had the opportunity to learn from the best lock combination in World Rugby but know he will only play against them. Like I said, he must be stupid or just short sighted,
December 3rd, 2009 at 11:14 am
#7 Only 22
December 3rd, 2009 at 12:01 pm
@Breakdown Boy: He was way behind at the Bulls, I doubt he would have done much learning from Bakkies and Matfield, and retired last year because it was clear he was going to be a Vodacom Cup player for must his life unless something major happened. He was training to be a draftsman, and wasn’t playing rugby any-more.
Now he gets to live in Australia, be in the top 3 or 4 locks at the Waratahs, and have a genuine chance of playing international rugby. Damn clever if you ask me.
December 3rd, 2009 at 12:25 pm
is he any good? at rugby, that is. seems quite adept at picking up and losing weight…
December 3rd, 2009 at 12:45 pm
I’ve got no respect for a guy like this. If he’s as good as he pretends to be he would have made it in SA. No pride for your country, no respect from me. Hope you get sheeps flu and end up looking like Rodney Blake you traitorous *******.
December 3rd, 2009 at 12:51 pm
@Skim: I am sure the fact that you don’t respect him is really cutting him up. How will he go on?
He actually comes across as quite humble, and with his feet on the ground.
December 3rd, 2009 at 12:51 pm
@Skim: Wow Skim, idiot of the day award goes to you. Just look at the English cricket side
December 3rd, 2009 at 1:00 pm
@WOLFMAN21: Yeah cause I posted this here for the sole purpose of making him feel bad. I’m just airing my opinion and like I said I’ve no respect for a guy that has no pride for his country. As for the english cricket side, don’t even get me started…
December 3rd, 2009 at 1:17 pm
@Breakdown Boy: He’s from the Bulls
December 3rd, 2009 at 2:47 pm
142kg…JEEEZ…Porker…LOL
I wonder who’s gonna pay for the bigmac’s…
December 3rd, 2009 at 3:33 pm
if he played for the emerging boks, does that deem him illegible for the aussie national side?
as for his decision to go over, i reckon its a good thing.in fact the more poaching from over seas then the sooner we’ll get structures in place to seek out the best talent we have to offer in this country before some wombat does.
We have an overflow of talent so the big boys in admin dont care to take advantage of it.Somebody else will happily steal off our table unless we watch what we have.I wish there were opportunities from overseas when i was still playing.I would be gone baby!
December 4th, 2009 at 2:22 am
Roodt’s going to cop a huge embarrassing teasing about his surname in Australia. Better to deed-poll it to Reed asap.
December 4th, 2009 at 3:55 am
@Skim: You should take a good look at that chip on your soldier, boet. Without getting political – you cannot blame ANYONE for wanting to move out of South Africa – it doesn’t exactly provide the best quality of life.
Grow up.
December 4th, 2009 at 4:44 am
@Charlie: Having lost Dunning to the Force for next year, the Waratahs needed to recruit a player who justified them being majority shareholders in Krispy Kreme
December 4th, 2009 at 6:47 am
this talented guy was being kept in the vodacom cup by quotas like fudge mabeta thats why he quit rugby, another KP scenario.
December 4th, 2009 at 6:56 am
@Skim- Oh cummon.Do you have a problem with the 1000s of nurses,doctors,teachers,etc plying their trade in the UK,Aus,Canada,Afghanistan? You probably regard Ngwenya from the US as a traitor too because he aint playing for Zim,yes? Roodt is a young player who’s going where the oppurtunity.Nothing wrong with that,this is pro rugby.Yeah,at this point he was way down in the national pecking order,but in Aus he might will be a few rungs higher up the 2nd row ladder.