Morgan Bolton

JC Pretorius was fighting his own battles, alongside his teammates in the Lions, on Sunday but that did not stop him from taking a moment to enjoy the Blitzboks triumph in Cape Town.

The former Blitzbok and his union were in Newport, Wales, then, facing the Ospreys in an EPCR Challenge Cup loss, while the Blitzboks were wrapping up a first HSBC SVSN World Series home win in nine year. They did so by beating Spain in the semi-final 19-12 and then later France 26-14 in the final at Cape Town Stadium on the day.

On Thursday, at a blistering hot Ellis Park, Pretorius revealed that he had predicted the triumph, and expressed his confidence in a call to Blitzboks co-captain Zain Davids this past Saturday.

Said the Lions flanker: “I was massively proud.

“A few hours before we played, they played in the semi-finals. My good friend Zain, I phoned him the night before, and I told him it’s definitely coming back home.

“He stayed humble and said, ‘I’ll give you a call tomorrow’. After our game, I saw they were ahead. I was emotional because I know what it means for them as well.”

Pretorius played over 120 matches for the Blitzboks, before a switch to XVs in 2023. After a period of training to acclimatise to the longer format, he showed steady improvement. Now, he is rapidly winning over fans and pundits alike, regarding his skillset and style. He has the sixth best turnover stat in the United Rugby Championship, and is proving to be a belligerent playmaker that has a bit of toe to him.

Although his focus is on XVs and achieving higher aspirations in that code, he believes that keeping abreast with developments in the Sevens game, will help him improve his game.

“When I was younger,” he said, “when I switched between Sevens and XVs, I always came back a better player.

“I could make quicker decisions and the team could benefit from that. You can always learn from the Sevens squad and what they do and bring it to the field.”

Pretorius was back at training with the Lions this week, despite only getting back from Wales on Tuesday. He is sure to be in the matchday 23 head coach Ivan van Rooyen selects on Friday in an effort to bounce back from a poor team display against the Ospreys, when they face Pau in the second round of the Challenge Cup.

Kick-off for that game at Ellis Park is Saturday at 5pm.