In the world of the jet-setting modern rugby team crisscrossing the Equator for the Vodacom United Rugby Championship, Heineken Champions Cup and international duty, selecting the perfect roommates is almost as important as selecting the match-day team.
Veteran Duane Vermeulen has had a few roommates in his stellar rugby career and explains how the rooming allocation often works in teams, and his number one priority when it comes to the perfect roommate.
“Generally when you first get into a new squad, the club puts you with someone they think you might get along with. For example, when I arrived at Ulster they put me with Rob Herring, a South African-born player who played for Maties in the Varsity Cup. So we immediately understood each other because of that link. That’s the first thing. Then, if you’ve been there for a couple of years, before you go on tour you can chat to the team manager and request who you’d like to room with. It’s the same at national team level,” says Vermeulen.
“If I look back on my career, my first roommate and the player I stayed with the longest was Tiaan Liebenberg. We were good mates and played together for quite some time. He’s a neat guy and easy to work with. At national level I’ve shared a lot with Francois Louw, Kwagga Smith and Frans Steyn.”
It is the neatness aspect that reveals another side to Vermeulen and what he requires in the perfect roommate.
“I grew up in a very neat house, so that’s important to me. But I’ve generally been very happy with my roommates over the years and enjoyed their company. We’ve never really had an issue.”
The Vodacom Bulls have an overarching philosophy when it comes to allocating their rooming list on tour. According to Elias Bennett, Team Manager of the Vodacom Bulls, the Pretoria team makes a point of not grouping players according to any “junior” or “senior” role in the team.
“We don’t really say junior or senior in the group because we believe everybody is equal. When deciding on the rooming list, we generally look at how the players group themselves, as in who they will sit with and talk to. You do also get one or two players saying they would like to room with a particular player.”
And sometimes, the rooming list is even decided by what online games the players are playing in the team hotel.
“The players often swop out roommates according to the games they play online. They’ll play from room to room, and it will be things like hunting games or golf games against other rooms, so sometimes they like to be together for these.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Vodacom Bulls
