Nizaam Carr in action for the Springboks against Wales. Picture: Stu Forster/Getty Images.
Loose forward Nizaam Carr is playing his role as an elder statesman at the Bulls very well as he revealed he has been sharing his experiences with the crop of young emerging Springboks at Loftus Versfeld.
The Bulls will have a total of 12 players that will be attending next month’s Springboks alignment camp.
Rugby World Cup winners Kurt-Lee Arendse, Willie le Roux, Marco van Staden, and Canan Moodie will be there alongside capped Boks Wilco Louw, Elrigh Louw, Gerhard Steenekamp, and Ruan Nortje.
Meanwhile, the likes of Cameron Hanekom, Mpilo Gumede, Johan Grobbelaar and Jan-Hendrik Wessels will be in the Bok set-up for the first time.
For them and those hoping to return to the Springboks structure, the alignment camp is a vote of confidence from the coach, Rassie Erasmus, and his coaching staff.
Carr, who is a five-cap Springbok and played in Europe as well, knows the feeling of playing international rugby.
He has also seen it all in the game, and his view on life has matured with age, making him the perfect person to speak to for young players who are seeking guidance in the change room.
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“These are guys that remind me of a lot younger Nemo (Carr’s nickname),” Carr said in an interaction with the media this week.
“The main message that I’m sort of giving to them; number one, is to never take anything for granted. I always talk to them about the injury that happened to me in 2012 where I tore my ACL.
“I had everything going well for me, off-field things were nice, I was getting paid well and a number of teams were interested in me and then just like that the injury happened.
“All of a sudden, I fell way down the pecking order and had to work my way up. The new players are here to learn from us, they don’t have to experience things like that themselves,” he said.
Carr said the young players should not take moments in their careers for granted and should know that things will happen at the right time.
“They must stay calm and not get over excited because everything will pass. Try to do your best, when you train, don’t take it for granted, when you’re in the gym and you might be tired when you don’t want to do it, that’s when you get better,” he said.
“Hard work is all that it takes. The most important thing is to stay calm, and everything will come to you at the right time. Not a day late or a day earlier, at the right time it’ll come for you,” Carr said.
Following a 12-week injury layoff, Carr is now back in contention for the Bulls.
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