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Rudy Paige and Juan de Jongh on being ‘Behind the Ruck’ after retirement
Former Springbok players Rudy Paige and Juan de Jongh have seamlessly transitioned from playing rugby to podcasting.
Former Springbok players Rudy Paige and Juan de Jongh have seamlessly transitioned from playing rugby to podcasting. Picture : behindtheruckpodcast/Instagram
A career in sport is quite short and players tend to go into television punditry post-playing days, but even there only a few are selected.
Former Springbok players Rudy Paige and Juan de Jongh have taken the unconventional route by creating opportunities for themselves by going into podcasting.
The idea came to them some years ago while they were plying their trade abroad.
“The whole podcasting idea came about when I played my rugby in France and Juan playing his rugby in the UK at the time, podcasting was already popular in those areas and I think that is where we thought we should start something,” Paige told The Citizen.
Former Stormers centre De Jongh played for the Wasps between 2017 and 2021 while Paige joined French Top 14 side Clermont in 2019 and retired at the end of 2022 at French Rugby Club Vannes after stints in Japan.
The pair launched their podcast, Behind the Ruck last year around July and Paige said they wanted to change perceptions about rugby players.
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Podcasting
Former Blue Bulls scrumhalf Paige said he personally would’ve liked to go into television punditry but there was just a paucity of opportunity.
“The opportunity wasn’t there and I didn’t know who to contact. But I’m doing a bit of commentating every now and again on SuperSport schools in certain games,” said the former scrumhalf.
“But the podcasting thing was just creating a show where we could be ourselves, we don’t have to be anyone else… showing that rugby players can be fun, we are quite intelligent and just showing a completely different side to rugby players ,than what the perception might be,” he averred.
De Jongh is a fulltime coach at the Stellenbosch Academy of sports.
The pair have made the transition from playing to podcasting seem very easy.
“I think why it looks easy is because we’re ourselves, we are not fake or acting. We speak from a place of absolute honesty… our originality, our authenticity, our relatability is in essence, for us the core value of our show.”
While De Jongh seamlessly went into coaching after retirement, Paige said it took time for him to find his place in the world, outside of being a rugby player.
“I went through a period of self-doubt, a period of things not going my way and a period of feeling lost in the world,” shared Paige.
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The journey
The first episode of their podcast featured former Stormers lock Marvin Orie. There have been more than 40 episodes released by the pair since last July and Paige described their 10-month journey as amazing.
“For 42 consecutive weeks we’ve put out an episode so far. Look, the 42 have been really interesting… it’s been 42 weeks of absolute chaos, fun, excitement and nerves,” said Paige.
He said some of the challenges include losing cables while recording and having to adapt to the situation or when he and De Jongh have clashing opinions on how to approach a show.
“Just me and Juan having different opinions about what type of guest we must have, or having different opinions on certain rugby stuff or different opinions on clothing we’re going to wear,” said Paige.
The two complement each other pretty well on and off the screen. “The synergy is absolutely there for everyone to see. Sometimes the two of us can’t see it,” Paige said.
Some challenges include having to compete with larger podcasts online that have financial backing, as these two are self-funded.
One of the positives from their 10 months of operation, Paige said was giving the public accessibility to the sport.
“That’s been one of the positives so far, bringing rugby to someone who can’t afford DSTV but still would love to listen to guys speak about upcoming games or results of the past.”
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A players’ point of view
That they played rugby professionally makes their product more endearing, since they know what they are speaking of.
“I think the fact that we played the game, we understand every bit about the game, we’ve experienced it. Someone that hasn’t played the game doesn’t know what players go through… that’s what we want to give to our viewers: an in-depth view from the player’s point of view,” said the former Lions and Free State Cheetahs player.
Some of the biggest episodes of Behind the Ruck are sit-downs with Springbok Captain Siya Kolisi and Manie Libbok, but Paige can’t decide which episode is his favourite.
“I actually can’t say which stands out, I’ve loved everyone one of them. But the one that I tend to watch sometimes is the first one,” said Paige.
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