Lions scrumhalf Morne van den Berg’s big Bok lesson — being selfless

Talented scrumhalf Morne van den Berg is hopeful of implementing lessons learned during his time in the Springbok set-up this season in his own game when he runs out for the Lions over the coming weeks and months.

Van den Berg was a somewhat surprise call-up to the Boks this season, but following a few strong performances he will most likely also get the nod to tour to Europe next month.

Besides Van den Berg, the scrumhalves who’ve donned the green and gold this season are Faf de Klerk, Grant Williams, Jaden Hendrikse and Cobus Reinach.

But first Van den Berg will look to impress in the United Rugby Championship which got under way for the four South African teams last weekend.

The Lions kicked off their campaign with a win against Ulster and this week face Edinburgh, also at Ellis Park.

‘Team first in everything’

Van den Berg said this week the biggest thing he learned while in camp with the world champions was to be “selfless”.

“I loved being in the set-up and enjoyed the Bok environment,” said Van den Berg.

“I learned a lot from coach Tony (Brown) and coach Jerry (Flannery) and Stick (Mzwandile Stick) as well.

“The big thing was being selfless … to put the team first in everything you do, to serve, whether you’re playing or not. You’ve got to give it your all to make sure that the team playing on the weekend is ready and prepared. That was the biggest takeaway for me… being selfless.”

Edinburgh challenge

Van den Berg added he would now look to impart some of what he learned with the Boks into the Lions, bit only if it was beneficial.

“I was exposed to a whole new environment and system, and it was good to learn new things in that environment,” said the scrumhalf.

“There are some things that have stuck with me and I’ll try implement them in my game, but only if I think it will fit in here at the Lions. I’m not going to try and reinvent the wheel, but take the valuable stuff and implement it here.”

Edinburgh, who pushed the Bulls hard at Loftus last weekend before eventually going down, will pose a completely different challenge to the Lions than what Ulster did a week ago, according to Van den Berg.

“Ulster and Edinburgh each have their own approaches to the game. And Edinburgh have a few big stars there, big players. But, like it is for every match, we’ll do our preparation and will be ready for whatever they bring to the game.”