Saluting the remarkable Boks career of Cobus Reinach

Springboks No 9 Cobus Reinach plays his 50 Test in Saturday’s season finale against Wales in Cardiff. It is a salute to a remarkable Test career, in which Reinach has shown that patience is a virtue and from patience comes the ultimate rewards, writes Mark Keohane.

I’ve covered enough Test rugby since 1992 to know that some players arrive like fireworks, bright and loud, and then disappear before the smoke has even cleared. And then there are players like Cobus Reinach, who is built on staying power, steel, speed, and a stubborn refusal to ever be counted out.

Reinach’s 50th Test comes 11 years after he debuted for the Boks at Newlands against Australia in 2014. He was 24 then. He is 35 now, and he looks quicker today than he did the afternoon he played his first Test.

That alone tells you everything about the athlete and the attitude.

But to salute Reinach purely as a survivor undersells him because he has thrived wherever he has played, be it in South Africa, England or France, at club level or for the Springboks.

He has done more than most scrumhalves who have ever worn the No 9 jersey for South Africa. Two World Cup titles and a hattrick in four minutes – the fastest in Rugby World Cup history – against Canada in 2019. He has scored 19 tries in 49 Tests.

And then there’s what he has done in the past month: two individual tries, each worthy of its own movie trailer. There was the crucial scorcher against France at the Stade de France in Paris that showcased his straight-line speed, and one as important against Ireland in Dublin, where again instinct and acceleration combined for five points.

Reinach has been electric throughout the Castle Rugby Championship and the November internationals, whether starting or closing out the Test.

Reinach, who made his Stormers debut a fortnight after being part of the Boks’ Rugby Championship title defence, played nine consecutive years overseas, at Northampton’s Saints for four years and then for the past five at Montpellier in France, where he finished on 103 matches. He played 76 for the Saints.

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He was never a case of  ‘out of sight and out of mind’. He was always a part of the national equation under Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber.

Rassie Erasmus, speaking after the 2019 World Cup pool win over Canada, said: “Cobus is one of the best finishers in world rugby. His speed is one thing, but his attitude is what sets him apart. He never stops working.”

Jacques Nienaber has always maintained: “Cobus brings intensity. Whether he plays ten minutes or 80 minutes, he changes the game. That’s his gift.”

Montpellier’s Philippe Saint-André, upon his arrival at the French club, called Reinach “the fastest scrumhalf in the world – and the most professional player in the squad.”

Teammate Jesse Kriel, ahead of the 2023 World Cup playoffs, said: “Cobus doesn’t age. He trains like a 20-year-old and competes like a Springbok who knows the standard. We trust him with our lives.”

Even the great Aaron Smith, after the Boks beat the All Blacks in Auckland in 2014, commented privately (later repeated in interviews): “That No 9 is rapid. South Africa have something special there.”

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Everyone who has ever played with him or against him has said the same thing in different ways: Reinach is a game-breaker. You blink and he is gone. You hesitate and he burns you. You switch off and he is already under the posts.

For me, the beauty of Reinach’s Test career is that it hasn’t followed the script. It hasn’t been linear or predictable. He never became the “permanent” Bok No 9, but he became something far more valuable in being the player who can tilt a Test match at any moment, from anywhere on the field. He has been and is a player whose selection is never a gamble, because the return is almost always guaranteed.

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He is the definition of a 23-man squad player in the modern era: dependable, devastating, disciplined.

Reinach’s route wasn’t easy and many within South Africa felt that he left the country when at the peak of his powers, but he continued to improve at the Saints and Montpellier.

His club mates speak of his lack of ego, his obsession with conditioning, his attention to video detail and his leadership and mentoring of newbies or less experienced players.

Saint-André once joked: “Cobus doesn’t drink wine. He doesn’t eat dessert. He eats speed.”

At 35, playing his 50th Test, he is still eating speed and burning international defences.

When I think of Reinach, I think of the Springboks’ identity under Erasmus and Nienaber, which is one rooted in readiness and not reputation.

There have been exceptional scrum halves playing for South Africa in the past 11 years, which is a statement on its own that Reinach gets to 50 appearances in Cardiff.

Cobus Reinach’s career is a lesson in perseverance, professionalism, and possibility, and a reminder to every wannabe Springboks scrum half in South Africa about consistency and relentless work ethic.

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